Pinoy athletes still searching for breakthrough at Youth Olympic Games

Filipino gymnast Tchelzy Mei Maayo at the 4th Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. POC Media

MANILA — Filipino athletes are still in search of a breakthrough at the 4th Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, with gymnast Tchelzy Mei Maayo and cyclist Maritanya Krog facing tough opponents in their respective events on Sunday.

Maayo finished 36th place in the women’s all-around and Krog was 30th in individual road race, events dominated strongly by athletes from global sports powerhouses from Europe, China, Japan and Australia.

Despite missing out on the podium, both athletes appreciated the experience of competing in the YOG.

“I learned to stay strong even if you’re score is not really good,” said Maayo, whose next destination is the Batang Pinoy Nationals of the Philippine Sports Commission next month in Bacolod City. “It’s about focusing on your next event after you missed one.”

The 14-year-old Maayo is still qualified for the Batang Pinoy, a flagship program of the PSC which is supporting the nine athletes sent here to the YOG and endorsed by the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Maayo totaled 44.399 points—uneven bars 9.50, balance beam 10.800, vault 12.633, floor exercise 11.466—in the competitions at the Dakar Exhibition Center in Diamniadio where China’s Xie Guying (53.099) and Zhong Qi (52.932), Russian Federation’s Polina Dmitrieva (52.733) and Japan’s Yume (52.465) and Nanami Togo (52.399) led the 18-athlete final cast.

There were 57 athletes entered in the women’s individual all-around with four failing to finish.

“I competed without any falls, although I wobbled [in the balance beam] a bit, I really enjoyed the games and I’m just happy to have performed and competed,” Maayo said. “But surely, I’ll do my best and work harder in the next competitions.”

Filipino cyclist Maritanya Krog at the 4th Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. POC MediaKrog, 17, still has one event to go here—the 8.5-km individual time trial set at 9 a.m. (Dakar time, 5 p.m. in Manila Tuesday).

“It was tough in the road race, the Europeans and Australian have their numbers here,” said Krog, who was sixth in road race in the Asian Youth Games last year in Bahrain.

Krog and her coaches, Mark John Lexer Galedo and Marita Lucas, did a reconnaissance on Monday of the ITT route in Corniche to evaluate the wind that’s expected to blow coast-ward from the Atlantic Ocean.

Krog and almost half of the starting field of 42 riders couldn’t keep pace with the breakaway initiated mostly by European athletes in the last two of the eight-lap race that saw Russian Federation’s Angelina Novolodskaya, Australia’s Alsie Apps and Czechia’s Linda Sitkova arriving 1-2-3 in a sprint finish.

Although the 59.50-km event was raced over a relatively flat main highway here, the conditions were so tough that six riders didn’t finish.

Meanwhile, Naomi Marjorie Cesar has emerged as a medal hope for Team Philippines. She will compete in the final of the women’s 800-meters at 5:00 p.m. on Monday in Dakar.

Pi Durden Wangkay will also run in the semifinals of the men’s 200-m on Tuesday.

Jade Justin Justiniane, meanwhile, ran fourth after the first race day of windsurfing at Saly Beach on Sunday.

“I was quite tired and my knees almost left me,” said Justiniane, 15, who’s coached here by iconic Filipino windsurfer German Paz. “I had to keep pumping because my opponents are really tough.”