Rio Games veteran Mary Joy Tabal was overjoyed by her success in the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games after winning the gold medal in women’s marathon.
Bu make no mistake, the petite Cebuana runner does not intend to rest on her laurels as she vowed to prepare as hard as she can to win the bigger one – next year’s Asian Games in Indonesia.
And to realize her dream, she plans to embark on another serious training before the end of the year.
“I gained confidence in this SEA Games,” said Tabal, who paid a courtesy call to Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez with her coach, Philip Dueñas. “Alam ko na ‘yung level ko hindi pa dito. May kaya pa akong marating.”
With her soaring confidence, Tabal is confident she could bring her talent to another level.
Her initial plan is to undergo training in Italy this October under Italian mentor Giusseppe Giambrone, who also trains athletes from Italy, Burundi and Uganda.
From there, Tabal will join the training camp in Kenya from February to March, a few months before the Asian Games set on Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, 2018.
Japanese coach Akio Usami will also continue training Tabal aside from Dueñas and Giambrone.