RP keen on staging Asian trackfest

BANGKOK — The Asian track and field championships, in principle, will remain a Philippine commitment in spite of attempts by other nations to host this major event of the Asian Athletics Association.

Go Teng Kok, president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association, yesterday said he had politely refused several offers – notably from Japan, China and Thailand — to assume the hosting of the prestigious event from the Philippines.

"As of presstime, the Asian Championships next year will be staged in Manila. The PATAFA is doing everything to keep the event and make it one of the biggest sporting events in the country in 2003," said Go who is here with five Filipino youngsters competing in the Asian Juniors at the Thammasat Sports Complex.

Officials of China, Japan and Thailand have approached Go only recently offering to host the Asian Championships, maintaining they have more funds to successfully stage the event.

Meanwhile, after two days of respite, national athletes Julie Rose Forbes and Ralph Waldy Soguilon display their running prowess and Maricel Sibog tries to recover lost ground in the 10th Asian Junior Athletic Championships here.

Forbes competes in the 400-m hurdles final and 100-m hurdles while Soguilon sees action in the century dash aiming for decent finish at the Thammasat oval to enter the finals.

Soguilon best time in 100-m is 10.82 he set in the last Asian junior held in Brunei. The 19-year-old sprinter from General Santos City and a junior electronics and communication student at La Salle, is aching a blazing finish to rekindle his shot at the gold.