FEU bet cops Team UAAP 2nd athletics gold

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern University’s Ian Delos Santos gave Team UAAP-Philippines its second gold medal in athletics late Thursday in the 17th ASEAN University Games in Palembang, Indonesia.

A standout from the Tamaraws men’s athletics squad that captured the Season 77 crown recently, Delos Santos defeated his foes from Indonesia and Malaysia to rule the decathlon and follow

up University of Santo Tomas ace Ernest John Obiena’s conquest in the men’s pole vault on Wednesday.

As of yesterday afternoon, Team UAAP- Philippines now has nine gold, 10 silver and 17 bronze medals to stay in fifth place of the medal tally with two days left in the competitions.

This turned out to be the Filipinos’ best performance in the region’s biggest multi- sporting event for student-athletes since 2008, when the country went home with eight golds in Kuala Lumpur.

Ateneo swimming stalwart Hannah Dato, who won two golds, settled for the silver medal this time in the women’s 400-meter individual medley swimming event with a time of 5:02.30, as the Season 77 MVP lost to Malaysia’s Cai Lin.

FEU’s Clinton Kingston Bautista placed second in the men’s 100-meter hurdles with a clocking of 14.22 seconds, while diver John David Pahoyo also won silver in the men’s 3-meter springboard event with 251.25 points.

Elbren Neri of UST bagged the bronze medal in the men’s 1500-meter run a day after finishing second in the 800-meter run.

Other Team UAAP-Philippines bronze medalists were University of the Philippines’ Denjylie Cordero in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, Ateneo’s Jessie Khing Lacuna in the men’s 400-meter individual medley, the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay team of Lacuna and his college teammates Aldo Batungbacal, Axel Ngui and La Salle’s Pierce Beltran, divers Riza Jane Domenios in the women’s 1-meter springboard and Anjoe Loberanes in the men’s 1-meter springboard and men’s 5-meter platform event.

Host Indonesia still leads the medal tally with 48 golds, 62 silvers and 39 bronzes, followed by Thailand (43-30-19), Malaysia (30-30-42) and Vietnam (23-8-2).