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Friday, March 29, 2024

Tabal has one less SEAG rival to worry about

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Cebuana Olympian Mary Joy Tabal will have less to worry about when she gets ready for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The region’s top long distance runner Jane Vongvorachoti won’t be joining the women’s marathon event on Dec. 6 in Capas, Tarlac.

The 35-year-old Vongvorachoti, who has a personal best of two hours, 50 minutes and 51 seconds last year, is now based in London and competing there. She is expected to be in the sidelights if ever she comes to the Philippines because Vongvorachoti is now helping coach Thailand national women’s team in long-distance running.

But, the 30-year-old Tabal still won’t be letting her guard down in her Thai rival’s absence.

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“I’m making sure that aside from looking into my competition, I’m also making sure that I’m ready for anything,” said Tabal, who just arrived from her two-and-a half month training stint in Japan yesterday as she talked about her preparations with her coach John Philip Duenas.

The defending champion from Cebu City will be watching for two Vietnamese, who could challenge her if they are fielded in.

There’s Le Pham Thi Hong, who took the silver back in 2017 and has a season’s best time of 2:52.14.

Then there’s Thi Hue Pham, who has a personal best of 2:54.31.

But there is still doubt if Thi will be fielded in, since her specialty is the 5,000-meter run and the 10,000 meters.

Aside from Duenas, two other coaches in Japan are helping Tabal get ready for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

She is also getting inputs from Japanese mentors Yuhei Sato and Akio Usami at the Nippon Sports Science University, where Tabal began training last Sept. 4.

Before she left for Japan, Tabal has been working on her endurance training.

To prepare her for the SEA Games, Tabal placed 14th in the Ottawa Scotiabank Marathon in Ottawa, Canada last May 26.

Tabal clocked a season’s best of two hours, 49 minutes and 57 seconds, an improvement from her time of 2:55 in the National Milo Marathon last December in Ilocos.

It was through the Milo event that Tabal was able to compete in Canada. 

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