57 triathletes dispute 10 slots in Asian YOG

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 57 young triathletes from 17 countries will dispute 10 slots in the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games when the first ASTC Asian Youth Olympic Games (YOG) qualifier and the 2018 Southeast Asian Triathlon (SEATA) Sprint Championships are held this Sunday at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Heading the roster in the sprint distance YOG elims are the Philippines’ Karen Manayon, Lauren Plaza, Joshua Ramos, Juan Francisco Baniqued, Inaki Lorbes and Joshua Averion along with foreign bets Teppei Tokuyama (Japan), Nicholas Rachmadi (Singapore), Dongwook Kim (South Korea), Ka Eun Kim (South Korea), Tsz Ho Li (Hong Kong), Maki Uchida (Japan), Megan Hwee Wen Tan (Malaysia), Tingnui Li (China) and Ekaterina Ryazanova (Uzbekistan).

At stake in the event organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) and supported by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Tourism Department, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Standard Insurance, Gatorade and Asian Center for Insulation are five slots each for youth males and females for the 2018 YOG triathlon event in Buenos Aires, Argentina this September. The qualifier is open only to junior elite triathletes (born in 2001 and 2002) and endorsed by their national federations through the International Triathlon Union (ITU).

Meanwhile, the finest triathletes from the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia will slug it out for top honors in the SEATA Sprint Championships composed of 750m swim off ACEA Subic Bay, 20km cycling through PNP Camp in Corregidor street to Petron Gas Station and 5km running along San Bernardino street before finishing at ACEA Subic Bay.

For the SEATA Championships Elite Men contest, the Philippines will be led by SEA Games medalists Nikko Huelgas and John Chicano with Singapore’s Bryce Chong and Cedric Jiang Hong, Indonesia’s Jauhari Johan and other members of the national team such as Edward Macalalad, Juan Carlos Abad, Julius Constantino and Mark Hosana out to foil their bid.

The awarding ceremony of the YOG and SEATA Sprint Championship winners for Elite, Under-23 Elite, Junior Elite and age-groupers (16-19 up to 50-above) will be held along San Bernardino street.