Brown rules women’s 400 meters hurdles in Asian meet

MANILA, Philippines — Robyn Brown delivered the Philippines’ first gold medal in the ongoing Asian Athletics Championships as she ruled the women’s 400m hurdles yesterday in Bangkok, Thailand.

Brown clocked 57.50 seconds in breaking the ice for the country in the weeklong meet.

She bested Japanese Etri Utsonamiya and Ami Yamamoto, who settled for silver and bronze in 57.73 and 57.80, respectively.

Meanwhile, Fil-Spaniard John Cabang Tolentino has reset the national men’s 110-meter hurdles record twice in a span of one month.

In another scintillating performance, Tolentino set a new Philippine mark of 13.56 seconds that shattered the 13.65 he registered in the Campeonato de Esukadi in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain barely a month ago.

Forget about Tolentino missing the podium after he was beaten by a hairline by eventual bronze winner Yaqoub Alyouha of Kuwait following identical clockings.

The 21-year-old Robotics major from Madrid, Spain also inched closer to breaching the Olympic standard of 13.27 and claim the Paris Games berth alongside the country’s first qualifier – world No. 3 pole-vaulter EJ Obiena.

Also in search of a Paris ticket is another hurdler Eric Cray, who took second in the first of two 400m hurdles semis heats by timing in 49.98 seconds and advanced to the finals set tonight.