Marestella glad to vie vs world’s top jumpers

Source: Daily Inquirer
By Marc Anthony Reyes


MANILA, Philippines—It’s a long shot worth undertaking for long jumper Marestella Torres.

The 27-year-old reigning Asian champion gets a chance to compete alongside the planet’s best in the World Indoors Athletics Championships in Qatar.

“It will be a learning experience for me,” said Torres, one of the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s five Athlete of the Year awardees, who left for the Qatari capital, Doha, last Tuesday.

“Competing with the world’s top jumpers will give me a chance to gauge what I’m capable of. I’m happy for the chance to jump with them.”

Athletics chief Go Teng Kok said no Filipino has ever won a medal from the tough World Indoors, but the experience will boost Torres’ confidence ahead of the Guangzhou Asian Games in November.

“It all depends in the conditions— the weather, the place and venue,” said Go. “Marestella is the reigning Asian champion, so that makes her a fine contender.”

After her Qatar stint, Torres will head for Cologne, Germany, for a six-month training, said the athletics chief.

Priming up for Asiad

Torres, who ended the country’s 22-year gold-medal drought in the Asian championships last year, belongs to the elite pool of athletes being primed up for the Asiad.

Also last year in Laos, she set the new Southeast Asian Games record of 6.68-meters, smashing the 6.52m of 15-time SEA Games gold medalist Elma Muros-Posadas which had stood for 20 years.

“At the rate she’s jumping, I can say she’ll be in the top 8 in the world soon,” Go said of Torres.

Outdoor No. 1 Brittney Reese, who won with a leap of 7.10 meters in Berlin last year, looms as the favorite in Qatar.

The world indoor long jump is 7.37m set by German Heike Dreschsler in 1988.