JANRY UBAS pulled off another gold-medal performance in men’s long jump this time on a bigger stage at the Thailand Open Track and Field Championships at the Thammasat University Sports Complex over the weekend.
Originally a decathlete, Ubas leapt to 7.78 meters to capture the gold medal to beat two Chinese Taipei athletes— Hua-Yu Wen (7.53 meters) and Jia-Xing Lin (7.42 meters).
“I believe I could accomplish my goal for as long as I train very hard,” said the 23-year-old from Cagayan de Oro City who clinched a decathlon bronze medal in the Singapore 2015 Southeast Asian Games.
Ubas made the golden leap in his third attempt, beating a big field of 30 jumpers.
His performance in Bangkok, however, paled in comparison with the 7.88 meters he registered during the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association trials at the PhilSports field last week.
That 7.88 meters surpassed the 10-year SEA Games record of 7.87 meters.
Patrick Unso, meanwhile, broke his personal best and national record when he clocked 13.91 seconds in settling for the bronze medal in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
Unso, son of Patafa Secretary-General Renato Unso, beat his own record of 14.12 seconds he established in the 2015 SEA Games.
South Korea’s Byoungjun Kim shattered his country’s national record to capture the gold medal with a time of 13.39 seconds, while Thailand’s Jamras Rittidet settled for the silver with 13.88 seconds.
Asian junior champion Khairul Jantan of Malaysia showed he could give reigning SEA Games champion Eric Cray a tough challenge when he tied the Filipino-American’s 10.31 seconds in winning the men’s 100-meter gold medal.
Jantan, who will turn 19, when the Games are held in Kuala Lumpur in August, beat two Thai rivals in the event. Cray skipped the tournament to stick with his training program in the US.
Also competing in the Thailand Open are Aries Toledo, Edgardo Alejan Jr., Michael del Prado, Francis Medina, Clinton Kingsley and Anfernee Lopena, triple-jump specialists Mark Harry Diones and Ronne Malipay.