Alfie Catalan still SEAG’s cycling pursuit king

BEKASI, West Java—Alfie Catalan reclaimed a long-lost title by ruling the 4,000-meter individual pursuit event of the Southeast Asian Games after soundly trouncing Indonesia’s Warseso Projo, on Sunday.

The corporal in the Philippine Army, humbled by Projo in the qualifiers, was lightning-quick this time, posting a time of four-minutes and 53.1 seconds for the first cycling gold for the Filipinos at the Rawamangun Velodrome here.

“This gold (medal) is truly special because we had only four months to prepare for the event,” the 29-year-old Catalan said in Filipino after winning his third gold medal, counting victories in 2005 in Manila and in Thailand two years later.

Catalan failed to compete in Laos because of leadership crisis in the cycling federation.
“This victory is also special because we didn’t know the caliber of the opposition here,” he added.

The Philippines finished 1-3 in the event after John Rene Mier checked in with a time of 5:00.90 for third, nosing out Amir Mustafa of Malaysia, who timed 5:01.51.

The men’s 4,000-meter team pursuit squad led by Mier and Catalan and John Paul Morales and Arnold Marcelo, also took the bronze medal.