The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Sprinter Mary Joy Tabal won the first gold medal for the Philippines in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) after dominating the women’s marathon competition on Saturday morning in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The 2016 Rio Olympics campaigner broke loose from an eight-woman pack in the third of five loops of the race and defeated her closest pursuers by a mile.
Tabal’s gold-winning performance put behind a controversy she got embroiled in before the Sea Games wherein she was dropped from the national team before being reinstated after coming to terms with the leadership of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa).
Tabal submitted a time of two hours, 48 minutes and 26 seconds, which was more than seven minutes ahead of a Vietnamese runner.
Singapore Sea Games champion Natthaya Thanaronnawat of Thailand came in third to bag the bronze.
JOHN BRYLLE S. ONG