Another great showing is expected from Sarah Dequinan in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia.
The 26-year-old Filipina heptathlete did well when she settled for a runner-up finish the last time around in Vietnam.
And she is among the top female tracksters, who could shine again, next to pole vaulter Natalie Uy and sprinter Kristina Knott.
“We’re bullish. They’re picking up and they’re getting a lot of support,” said Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association chief Terry Capistrano.
Dequinan, the gold-medal winner of the 2019 SEA Games, performed better than in 2019 when she got 5381 points for a national record.
Her recent performances put Dequinan on course to following the footsteps of Elma Muros-Posadas and Nene Gamo-Pellosis.
Posadas last held the national record when she tallied 5346 points in the 1998 Bangkok SEA Games, while Pellosis once held the Philippine mark after finishing with 5125 in the 1991 Manila SEA Games.
Dequinan, however, fell short of the gold to Vietnam’s Nguyen Linh Na’s 5415 in the 2022 games.
Her teammate, Alexie Caimoso, placed fifth with 4375 points in her first SEA Games stint.
Capistrano believes that it may be difficult to gauge how Filipino athletes fared in the last Hanoi SEA Games as the COVID lockdowns over the last two years made it hard for the PATAFA to make an honest-to-goodness review of the Philippines’ performances in international competitions.
Capistrano said they are now looking forward to a better showing of members of the national team in 2023.
“Hanoi is not a good gauge because all of us are coming out from COVID-19 lockdowns. Each country has their own gauge, and some are better than others,” said Capistrano.
The PATAFA chief believes that the coming SEA Games in Cambodia will be a better time to assess how Filipino athletes will be doing.