CHIEF of mission Julian Camacho expressed high hopes yesterday that overseas-based Filipino athletes would deliver in the 28th Southeast Asian Games.
Athletics has the most number of United States-based entries—thrower Caleb Stuart, hurdler Eric Cray, long jumper Donovant Arriola Jr., middle-distance runner Jessica Barnard, Tyler Ruiz, Princess Joy Griffey and the Richardson sprint sisters, Kayla Anise and Kyla Ashley.
Fil-American Joshua Hall, who copped a bronze (100m breaststroke) in the 2013 Burma (Myanmar) Games, will be back for the swim team along with Honolulu-based Jasmine Alkhaldi. Joining them are rookies Aldrich Mckirdy and Imelda Corazon Wistey.
“They’ve trained abroad and we’re expecting them to win gold medals,” said Camacho.
Projections also look promising for Fil-German Katharina Melissa Lehnert and Treat Conrad Huey (tennis), gymnast Ava Lorein Verderflor and half-Japanese judokas Kiyomi Watanabe, Kenji Yahata and Kodo Nakano. J. Navarro