Ando continues strong PH women show; Eala sure of bronze
BANGKOK—Elreen Ando on Monday established herself as one of Team Philippines’ golden girls.
Alex Eala could join her there soon.
Ando, a two-time Olympian, captured Team Philippines’ 18th gold in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games after ruling the women’s 63-kilogram (kg) weightlifting category in Chonburi.
Ando had a total lift of 229kgs at Chonburi Sports School, an hour’s drive from this city, to claim the second gold of her SEA Games career.
“The first attempt was difficult. I was really nervous,” Ando said. “I was thinking a lot about how to lift it. I told myself that I can do it, that I just had to do what I do in training.
“I fought for it because I really needed to win the gold,” added the 27-year-old standout, who saw action in the 59kg category two years ago in Cambodia.
Eala, meanwhile, bucked a slow start before beating Malaysia’s Shihomi Leong, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the women’s tennis singles semifinal at the National Tennis Development Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Eala fell to a 1-3 start in the opening set. But once she hit her stride, she was unstoppable.
She won five straight games en route to taking the first set and coasted to the victory.
“I’m very happy with the first round, it presented good challenges and I’m happy with how happy the crowd was and how so many people came to watch,” Eala said.
The 20-year-old Eala faces Thai Naklo Thasaporn in the semifinal. The home bet swept Singaporean Sue Yan Tan, 6-1, 6-3.
While Eala continues to hunt for a bigger prize here, Ando will fly home bearing bigger dreams.
“Next year, I will prepare for the Olympics,” Ando said, adding that she continues to “have a lot of confidence in myself.”
Hussein Lorana and Naomi Cesar, meanwhile, gave Team Philippines a sweep of the 800-meter races in athletics.
Lorana took the men’s gold in one minute, 48.80 seconds at Supachalasai Stadium, while Cesar clocked 2:10.2 to rule to the women’s side.
In shooting, after much confusion the previous day, Team Philippines finally got confirmation of its four golds on Monday.
Rolly Nathaniel Tecson won the standard division event, Edcel Gino took the men’s production optics category, Erin Matter Nicor ruled the women’s open division and Genesis Pible triumphed in women’s production optics.
