INQUIRER Sports

SINGAPORE— After three days of futility, the Philippine flag was finally hoisted at the 1st Asian Youth Games in this island state.

Stephanie Cimatu made sure the Philippines will not go home empty-handed after claiming its first medal—a silver—in the girls’ javelin throw on Friday at the Bishan Stadium here.

The 15-year-old thrower from the windmills town of Bangui, Ilocos Norte, heaved the spear to 36.21 meters in her first attempt, good enough for second place after South Korea’s Lee Seon-hye registered 41.10 in her fifth try for gold.

“I trained hard for this and I will continue to train harder for future competitions,” said Cimatu who, along with Lee, were the only participants in the event.

A gold medalist in the Palarong Pambansa two months ago, Cimatu stands to receive a cash incentive of P10,000 from Philippine Sports Commission chair Harry Angping and an undetermined amount from Ilocos Norte Gov. Michael Keon.

Angping said he would propose that Cimatu, a protégé of former SEA Games champion Erlinda Lavandia since she was eight, be included in the national training pool. Cimatu posted a personal-best throw of 36.64 during the Palaro.

“We finally broke the ice,” said Angping. “Regardless of the situation, it’s still a medal.”

After the first throw, Cimatu posted distances of 33.26, 34.76, 34.17, 32.51 and 35.13 while Lee registered 41.02, 35.19, 39.99 in her other attempts. Lee failed in her second and fourth attempts.

Filipino dribblers also sparkled after clobbering United Arab Emirates, 33-9, to advance to the semifinals of the boys’ Fiba 3-on-3 basketball against China today. Cris Michael Tolomia paced the Nationals with 14 points and Jeron Teng added 10.

It was the fifth straight win for the boys’ squad after sweeping Group C that also included Iran, Mongolia, Japan and Jordan.

In girls’ play, Danica Therese Jose and Tara Shane Araneta combined for 30 points to carry the Philippines to a 28-22 triumph over Sri Lanka. The Filipino girls topped Group D to set up a quarterfinal clash with Group B runner-up South Korea.

Just like their male counterparts, the girls’ team swept all their assignments in the elimination round, winning over Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan by default.

Shooter Jayson Escumbie Valdez, tanker Jose Joaquin Gonzales, kegler Collins Jose and sprinter Raine Reyes, however, failed to make a dent after getting the boot in the games for athletes 14 to 17 years old from 43 countries.

Valdez missed the finals on strings of 97, 98, 95, 92, 94 and 90 in the boys’ 10-meter air rifle while Gonzales, who gained the semifinals of the 100m backstroke for boys, failed to meet the qualifying standard for the medal round.

Gonzales clocked one minute and 1.75 seconds, good for 12th and four seconds behind heat winner Abdullah Althuwaini of Kuwait.

Jose finished way ahead of his teammates in the bowling all events for boys but his total score of 3,183 could only land him seventh overall. Dong-Jun Hwang of South Korea won the gold with 3,426 pinfalls while Japan’s Takuma Echigo settled for silver (3352).

In the boys’ 400m hurdles finals, Reyes lan-ded fifth with a time of one minute and 1.53 seconds, eight seconds behind gold medalist Dong Chen of China. India’s Mervin Jebaraj Selwyn (54.41) grabbed the silver and Yousef Karam of Kuwait (54.80) copped the bronze.

The tandem of Ian Lariba and Val Stephen Jaca kissed their medal aspirations goodbye after yielding to Hong Kong’s Daryl Hung and Ching Wan Li, 4-11, 3-11, 18-20, in the round of 32 in mixed doubles table tennis.