Discus gold secured, Subenrat eyes Olympic place
Thai discus sensation Subenrat is a big fish in a small pond
The track was peppered with athletes, officials, photographers and the odd VIP, out on the field mini-Volvo cars were darting about, and it just seemed as if the final day of SEA Games athletics was also the busiest time for the sport at the National Stadium.
It was also the final chance for track and field athletes to claim the spotlight.
Like Subenrat Insaeng.
The Thai discus thrower has won the event at the last two Games, first in 2011 and then two years later in Myanmar, and she was in the mood again yesterday.
The 21-year-old beat her own Games record of 56.77m - from the 2013 Games - with a new distance of 59.56m.
Since the 2011 Games, she has been breaking records and she shows no sign of halting the trend.
"I was confident coming into the Games that I could break my own record. This is no surprise," she said, matter-of-factly.
Malaysia's Yap Jeng Tzan clinched the silver with 46.95m and Singapore's Hannah Lee scored bronze with a new season's best of 45.72m.
Subenrat will now concentrate on her mission to earn a ticket for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"I need 91cm more to qualify for Rio, and because I have about six to seven months to train for it, I'm feeling pretty confident about my chances," said Subenrat.
The Thai was not the only one to retain her title.
In the women's 3,000m steeplechase, Indonesia's Rini Budiarti did fall into the water jump at one stage but, in truth, she never showed any sign of fatigue, winning her third consecutive gold at the biennial Games.
Clocking 10min 20.40sec, she finished 12 seconds ahead of long-time rival Nguyen Thi Phuong.
Nguyen settled for silver, while the Philippines' Jessica Lynn Barnard retained her bronze from 2013.
The men's steeplechase, too, proved to be an uncontested event for the reigning champion.
Among the field was 2013 champion, Christopher Jr. Ulboc, who won again with a new personal best of 8min 59.07sec.
"It is a nice feeling (winning again)," Ulboc whooped.
"There are many people from the Philippines in Singapore and I wanted to do this for them.
"I am sure some of them were in the crowd."
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