Ubas ripe for gold after 8-year SEA Games’ wait

By Riera U. Mallari

PHNOM PENH—He waited eight long years for a SEA Games’ gold. In the Cambodia edition of the games on Tuesday at the Merodok Techno Stadium here, Janry Ubas was finally ripe for athletic glory.

Preserving his strength for the final event of decathlon (1500), where he was in the running for a silver, the 29-yearold Ubas leaped to a games’ best 7.85 meters in the long jump finals right in his first attempt to capture his firstever Southeast Asian Games’ gold after eight years of trying.

“Si-necure ko lang po ‘yung first jump ko, kailangan mataas ‘yung talon ko kaagad, kasi crucial sa isang event ko na decathlon. May tatakbuhin pa ako sa 1500, kaya kinuha ko na agad ‘yung best ko sa first jump, ‘yung tipong pang-gold na talaga,” said Ubas, who began competing in the SEA Games in 2015 in Singapore. The tactical and even logical move of letting it all out in his first jump