Delicaño, showing no ill effects of a hamstring injury that sidelined him last year, ruled his event with a leap of 7.46 meters, beating a Korean entry by two centimeters and a Taiwanese bet by 15 centimeters. Candelario topped the 400-meter race with a clocking of 47.36 seconds.
Another Filipino runner, Jimar Aying, settled for silver behind Candelario just 29 hundredths of a second behind. Geralyn Amondoron also won a bronze for the Philippines in the women’s 400-meter run.
The two other Filipino bets who competed but failed to win a medal were women’s long jump hopeful Lerma Bulauitan, who finished fourth behind two Vietnamese rivals and a Taiwanese, and Nixon Mas, who saw action in the shotput event.
Bulauitan had a 6.15-meter leap which was off her personal best of 6.40 meters, while Mas fared miserably in the shotput since his original event, the discus throw, was scheduled Sunday. — Abac Cordero