Toledo, Sunang banner 17-man PH team in Thai athletics open

MANILA, Philippines –  Decathlete Aries Toledo and former Asian long jump champion Marestella Torres-Sunang lead the 17-man Philippine team set to compete in the four-day Thailand Open starting Friday, May 4.

Toledo, who ruled the 2017 Southeast Asian Games decathlon, will compete in six events: pole vault, long jump, 110m hurdles, discus and javelin as there’s no decathlon event in the meet.

But focus will also be on Sunang and Janry Ubas as the two athletes gear up for the 2018 Asian Games.

Sunang qualified for the Asiad after leaping a distance of 6.45 meters to win a bronze in the 2017 SEA Games. But the 37-year-old looks to improve on the 6.06m mark she posted earlier this year in Singapore.

Ubas – who early last year surpassed the mark set in the 2015 SEA Games but lost steam as the 2017 edition neared – also aims to reach the Asiad qualifying mark of 7.81 meters. His best mark of 7.39m this year was set in the Singapore Open.

Merwin Guarte, the country’s middle distance king, will run his firs international 5,000m competition in addition to the 1,500.

But Elben Neri, who won one of the country’s two golds in Singapore Open, won’t be around as he already left the national team to enlist in the Army, track and field sources said.

The lineup : Aries Toledo ( pole vault, long jump, 110mh, discus, javelin, shot put), Melvin Calano (javelin),  Janry Ubas ( long jump), Clinton Bautista ( 110mh), Francis Medina (400mh), Mervin Guarte (1,500 and 5,000 meters), Archand Bagsit (200), Michael del Prado (400mh), Albert Mantua (discus), Ronnie Malipay (triple jump), Evalyn Palabrica (javelin), Maristela Sunang (long jump), Eloisa Luzon (100m), Emily Obiena (pole vault), Riezel Buenaventura (pole vault), Kim Zulueta (200m), Jeremaiah Malonzo (100m). – Rappler.com