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THE Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association
will send Southeast Asian Games medalist Julius Sermona to the
prestigious American Bank International Marathon set March 17 in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Patafa president Go Teng Kok
approved the participation of Ser-mona in the Category A marathon,
which is also part of his training for this year’s SEA Games.
“Althoug Vertek [Eduardo
Buenavista] is our top marathoner, Julius [Sermona] deserves to
compete in Malaysia after showing tremendous improvement since the
2005 SEA Games. We want to groom him as successor of Buenavista,”
Go said.
The 27-year-old Ser-mona, a
native of Negros Occidental, won the silver medal in the 5,000 and
the bronze in the 10,000 events in the SEA Games two years ago. In
December he won the national finals of the Milo Marathon, besting
the country’s seasoned marathoners.
“Sa ngayon, ang target ko
talaga ay malagpasan ang national record ni Vertek [Buenavista].
After manalo ako sa Milo marathon, naramdaman ko na mas mag-e-excel
ako dito,” said Sermona, referring to his decision to shift from
long distance to full marathon.
Sermona’s personnel best of
2:21:53, which he established to win the 2006 Milo title, was just
two minutes away from Buenavista’s Philippine record of 2:18:00
set in the Japan Marathon three years ago.
“Yung mapantayan ko ang
performance ni Vertek, malaking bagay na. Pero ang talagang pangarap
ko ay malagpasan ang Philippine record,” Sermona said.
Up against the world’s best
that included runners from Kenya and Japan, Sermona remains
optimistic despite making his international debut.
“Ensayo po ako nang ensayo.
Alam kong handa na ako sa malaking tournament. Hindi ko man makuha
ang korona at least malagpasan ko ang personal best ko masaya na po
ako,” Sermona said.
Sermona’s trip to Malaysia is
part of Patafa’s program aimed to surpass the country’s nine
gold medal harvest in the 2005 SEA Games.
Athletics has been a consistent
SEAG gold medal producers for the last six edition of the biennial
meet. During the 2001 Vietnam Games, the GTK Army won 11 golds,
making athletics the most productive sports in the Philippine
delegation.
--Frank Calapre
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