Cray clinches second gold  

AFP, SINGAPORE: Eric Cray shrugged off an embarrassing error involving the Filipino flag on Wednesday as he clinched his second SEA Games gold in two days in the men’s 400m hurdles. The US-based runner was sporting an upside-down Filipino flag on his vest, which officially means the country is at war, when he won the 100m in 10.25sec on Tuesday.
But a day later Cray, 26, got both his flag and his performance right as he clocked a Games record of 49.40 to win the hurdles from Quach Cong Lich of Vietnam. Cray wasn’t the only Filipino to wear an upside-down flag on Tuesday, with 100m women’s winner Kayla Richardson also caught out. It is unclear who was responsible for the error. But Cray said the inverted flags were hurriedly covered up or re-stamped, and he apologised to his fellow countrymen for the mistake at the tournament in Singapore.
Cray, 26, began representing the Philippines in 2011 and he has already qualified for next year’s Olympics in the 400m hurdles after running a personal best of 49.12 last month. Hosts Singapore had something to cheer when Veronica Shanti Pereira won their first women’s 200m gold medal in 42 years, beating the Philippines’ Richardson into second.
Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Huyen won the women’s 400m hurdles, also in a Games record time of 56.15, and Indonesia’s Maria Londa won the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.70m.
Agus Prayogo of Indonesia won the men’s 10,000m in 29:41.56 and Duong Van Thai and Do Thi Thao scored a men’s and women’s 800m double for Vietnam. Thailand dominated the throwing events, with Promrob Juntima winning the men’s shot put with 17.47m and Natta Nachan taking the women’s javelin with a throw of 54.38m.
In the decathlon, Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Hue dethroned Filipino defending champion Jesson Ramil Cid to take the gold medal.

Cray clinches second gold

AFP, SINGAPORE: Eric Cray shrugged off an embarrassing error involving the Filipino flag on Wednesday as he clinched his second SEA Games gold in two days in the mens 400m hurdles. The US-based runner was sporting an upside-down Filipino flag on his vest, which officially means the country is at war, when he won the 100m in 10.25sec on Tuesday. But a day later Cray, 26, got both his flag and his performance right as he clocked a Games record of 49.40 to win the hurdles from Quach Cong Lich of Vietnam. Cray wasnt the only Filipino to wear an upside-down flag on Tuesday, with 100m womens winner Kayla Richardson also caught out. It is unclear who was responsible for the error. But Cray said the inverted flags were hurriedly covered up or re-stamped, and he apologised to his fellow countrymen for the mistake at the tournament in Singapore. Cray, 26, began representing the Philippines in 2011 and he has already qualified for next years Olympics in the 400m hurdles after running a personal best of 49.12 last month. Hosts Singapore had something to cheer when Veronica Shanti Pereira won their first womens 200m gold medal in 42 years, beating the Philippines Richardson into second. Vietnams Nguyen Thi Huyen won the womens 400m hurdles, also in a Games record time of 56.15, and Indonesias Maria Londa won the womens long jump with a leap of 6.70m. Agus Prayogo of Indonesia won the mens 10,000m in 29:41.56 and Duong Van Thai and Do Thi Thao scored a mens and womens 800m double for Vietnam. Thailand dominated the throwing events, with Promrob Juntima winning the mens shot put with 17.47m and Natta Nachan taking the womens javelin with a throw of 54.38m. In the decathlon, Vietnams Nguyen Van Hue dethroned Filipino defending champion Jesson Ramil Cid to take the gold medal.