2020 OLYMPICS: EJ OBIENA BECOMES THE FIRST FILIPINO TO QUALIFY TO THE 2020 OLYMPICS

The Philippines' quest for our first Olympic gold medal has begun.

Pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena just became the first Filipino athlete to qualify to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.  EJ was able to qualify by clearing 5.81 meters in an athletic meet in Italy.

With this jump, EJ was again able to set a new Philippine national record, eclipsing the record he set earlier this year at 5.76 meters.

CNN Philippines' Sportsdesk posted in their Twitter account a video of Obiena's jump:

WATCH: Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena clears 5.81 meters in an athletics meet in Italy, making him the first Filipino to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 👏🏽🇵🇭 https://t.co/wAKaxrZvLD pic.twitter.com/moNKNWpQIV

— CNN Philippines Sports Desk (@sportsdeskph) September 4, 2019

I hope this will be the start of the influx of athletes that would qualify to the Olympics. Laban Pilipinas!

2017 SEA GAMES : MARY JOY TABAL WINS PHILIPPINES' 1ST GOLD MEDAL

Veteran marathoner Mary Joy Tabal has won the Philippines' first gold medals of the 2017 Southeast Asian Games.

Tabal led almost the full length of the race and clocked in with a time of about 2 hours and 48 minutes and 26 minutes, more than 7 minutes ahead of the second placer and improving her silver medal finish 2 years ago in the 2015 SEA games. She beat 6 other female runners, including 2015 SEA Games winner Natthaya Thanaronnawat of Thailand.

The silver medal went to Hoang Thi Thanh of Vietnam (2:55:43) while the bronze was won by Natthaya Thanaronnawat of Thailand (2:58:17).

Here is her winning moment as posted in Camille Naredo's Twitter account:

Mary Joy Tabal crosses the finish line! What a performance! pic.twitter.com/RYjzSP6vEZ

— Camille B. Naredo (@camillenaredo) August 19, 2017

Tabal, an Olympian and a 4-peat winner of the Milo Marathon, almost did not make it to the national team for the SEA Games after some dispute with PATAFA, the country's athletics association. She was later reinstated after agreeing to a compromise. This is just a validation that she really belongs to the national team.

With this win, Tabal ends the Philippines' 8 year gold medal drought in SEA Games marathon. The last time Philippines won a gold medal was in 2009 in Laos when both Eduardo Buenavista and Jho-An Banayag ruled both the men's and women's races.

On the men's side, Jeson Agravante failed to finish in the men's marathon race after getting cramps a few kilometers to the finish line.

Congratulations to Mary Joy for this golden performance and thank you Jeson for representing the country!

#LabanPilipinas

TEAM PHILIPPINES : MARY JOY TABAL IS REINSTATED AS A NATIONAL TEAM MEMBER BY PATAFA

Marathoner Mary Joy Tabal is now reinstated as a national team member for track and field. In a letter posted in the Twitter account of PH Sports Live Scores , PATAFA sent already the letter to Tabal, which was signed by PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico.

Here is the tweet:

Here is the letter from PATAFA. @olminleyba first tweeted this photo. pic.twitter.com/rIKyfGgvn0

— PHSports LiveScores (@LiveScoresPH) June 14, 2016

This is the first step in her formal entry to the Rio Olympics. PATAFA will now endorse her since she already qualified by beating the qualifying time in a race in Canada.

See you in Rio Mary Joy and make us proud!

2015 SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES : FIL-AMS DELIVER 3 ATHLETICS GOLD MEDALS

Three Filipino-American recruits deliver gold medal performances at the start of the athletics competition at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

New recruit Caleb Stuart started the day for the Philippines with a record setting performance at the Men's Hammer Throw. His 3rd throw of 65.63m is the new SEA Games record. He was able to beat Thailand (62.12m) and Malaysia (61.18m). Another Filipino, veteran camapaigner Arnel Ferrera, finished fifth. Here is Caleb's performance:

In a rare feat, the fastest man and woman in Southeast Asia comes from the Philippines. Eric Shaun Cray and Kayla Richardson both won the 100m for Men and Women, respectively. Cray clocked in at 10.25s, a clear 0.20s faster than the silver medalist. Richardson, on the other hand, had a photo finish race against the Thai runner and both of them clocked in identical times of 11.76s. In the end, the gold was awarded to Richardson.

Here are their performances at the 100m sprint races:

With more events for all these 3 athletes, the target of 8-12 medals for athletics seems very much attainable. Hope this is the start of the resurgence of Philippine athletics.