By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Olympian hurdler Eric Cray earned a berth to the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary slated late this month.
Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa) Secretary General Edward Kho disclosed this on Sunday, Aug. 6, saying that the multiple Southeast Asian Games gold medalist was able to amass enough points to earn a ticket to the world stage in the men’s 400-meter hurdles.
With the development, Cray will join fellow qualifiers, pole vaulter EJ Obiena and female hurdler Robyn Brown.
This would be the second time that Cray would be competing in the Worlds after seeing action in the 2013 edition held in Moskva, Russia. He also competed in the same event, but wasn’t able to advance into the next round.
At 34, Cray has been trying to defy Father Time and managed to do so after retaining his SEAG crown for the sixth time in Cambodia last May.
He also finished sixth in the Asian Championships last month in Thailand.
His last competition was last Friday, Aug. 4, at the Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis, Tennessee where he finished fifth.
He also currently holds the Philippine record in the said event with 48.98sec he posted in a race in Madrid, Spain in 2016.
