By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Fil-American Olympian Eric Cray turned out to be the country’s saving grace early Thursday after winning the men’s 400m hurdles gold in the athletics competitions of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games here.
In bagging his 6th gold, Cray clocked 50.03 seconds to beat Thailand’s Natthapon Dansungnoen (50.73sec) and Singapore’s Calvin Ouek Jun Jie (50.75sec.) and reaffirm his supremacy in the event, which he first won in the 2013 edition in Myanmar.
“It feels great (to win), man,” said Cray, who competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
And moments after crossing the finish line, Cray, already 34, flashed six fingers to signify the number of his 400m hurdles titles.
“I had an injury in the Asian Indoor Championships. It’s definitely a concern coming in, but we changed a lot on my training so I’m right on pace.”
It hardly showed as Cray topped the morning heats in 52.73sec before improving his time en route to the gold.
“I’m happy it was hot because it kinda helps the pain down there. I just really had to work on it, stay conscious of it,” he said.
It was the third gold medal for athletics following EJ Obiena in men’s pole vault and Janry Ubas in men’s long jump.
Cray resumes his bid for the gold medal when he competes in the century dash Friday, May 12, along with Kristina Knott in the distaff side.
He will race in the morning heats with hopes of advancing to the afternoon finals as he not only guns for a repeat golden performance in the 2015 Singapore edition, but also to reset his own national record of 10.25sec.
At the Elephant Hall 2, Overseas Filipino Worker Kristian Narca bows to hometown bet Laingkousin Khun, 30-27, to settle for the silver medal in the men’s 57kg of kun khmer.
Narca, a muay coach in Qatar, tried to beat his rival in his own turf, but Khun was too much to handle.
“He’s really better than me, but I kept pushing myself to win,” said Narca, a native of Leyte, who was only called up to represent the country in Cambodia’s ancient martial art sport a few months before the biennial meet.
In Siem Riep, Ronald Oranza bagged the bronze in the men’s criterium race in 1:13:39.00.
The 30-year-old pride of Villasin, Oranza made his move in Lap 5 of the 1.8-kilometer route when he joined the breakaway pack of Efren Reyes, Mar Sudario and four others.
Sudario carried the brunt of the work to prepare Reyes and Oranza for the sprint, but Oranza found himself in a tight line to finish behind gold medalist Terry Yudha Kusuma of Indonesia and Nur Amirull Fakhruddin Mazuki of Malaysia (1:13:38.000).
As of 4 p.m., the country so far has 27 gold, 46 silver and 59 bronze medals to slip to sixth place behind powerhouse Vietnam, which has 51 golds, 51 silvers and 65 bronze medals.
Thailand trails at second with 51-37-55, followed by host Cambodia (48-41-54), Indonesia (37-32-56) and Singapore (31-23-31).
At the Chroy Changvar Convention Center, three boxers in Carlo Paalam, Paul Julyfer Bascon and Markus Tongco are fighting for a spot in the gold-medal round at press time to join seven others in the finals.
Five fighters advanced to the gold-medal round Wednesday night, May 10, with siblings Nesthy and Norlan Petecio posting contrasting wins to headline the crew composed of Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista and Fil-British John Marvin.
Irish Magno and Riza Pasuit book final berths Tuesday, May 9.
Nesthy, a 2021 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, crushed hometown bet Vy Sreysros via unanimous decision in the women’s 57kg semifinal, while younger brother Norlan posted a split decision over Jun Jie Velvan Tan of Singapore for a spot in the final in the men’s 67kg.
Ladon also prevailed via split decision over Malaysia’s Muhammad Abul Qaiyum Ariffin in the men’s 51kg even as Bautista downed Myanmar’s Naing Latt via unanimous decision in the men’s 57kg.
Not to be left out was Marvin, who worked his way to outgunning Cambodia’s naturalized fighter from Uzbekistan Nasredinov Anvar.
