BOHOLANA sprinter Riza Jane Valiente finished with a silver medal in the girls 400-meter hurdles in the first day of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) School Games at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday.
The 17-year-old Mabini, Bohol native settled for second place after clocking one minute and 1.52 seconds behind Vietnamese Trang Bui Thi who claimed the gold medal by crossing the finish line with a time of 59.97. Thai Weruwanarak Arisa bagged the bronze with her time of 1:03.13 while another Filipino trackster, Bernalyn Bejoy, salvaged fourth place with 1:04.40.
Valiente, a 12th grader from La Union National High School of Bohol is best remembered when she donned the Niños’ jersey and helped Cebu City in topping the Philippine National Games held in Cebu last May by bagging the gold in the 400-meter hurdles.
She also defended her title in the same event in last April’s Palarong Pambansa held in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur and delivered Central Visayas’ first gold medal in the track and field contest.
The first gold medal for the Philippines in the track and field event of the ASEAN School Games was bagged by Evangelene Caminong, who topped the girls high jump.
Another podium finish for the Philippine delegation was achieved by Camila Tubiano who settled for bronze in the girls 3,000-meter run behind Luu Thi Thu of Vietnam and Lwee Zar of Myanmar who bagged the silver and gold medals, respectively.
In last year’s edition in Singapore, the Philippine delegation bagged a total of 13 golds, eight silvers, and 21 bronze medals which gave them sixth place.