Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
    View Today
    Mon, Nov 6

    Asian champ stands in way of Caluag's quest for BMX race repeat

    daniel caluag strongest potential rivals bmx cycling asian games
    Aug 24, 2018

    JAKARTA — Two former Asian champions and a reigning Southeast Asian Games titlist looms as Daniel Caluag’s strongest rivals as he sets out to defend the Asian Games gold medal in men’s BMX of cycling on Saturday at the Jakarta International BMX Track.

    Caluag, a registered nurse based in the US, kept his aces close to his chest ahead of the Games, opting to train on his own rather than compete in UCI races as he has done for his qualification for the London 2012 Olympics.

    Although doubts have been cast on his conditioning and preparedness to retain the only gold medal for the country in the Incheon 2014 Asiad, Caluag stressed he has prepared well and hard for Jakarta.

    “It’s not a matter of watching out for my opponents. For me, it’s watching out about myself, how I will fare on race day,” said Caluag, 31, who will race alongside younger brother Christopher John.

    “I’m sure they [rivals] know me and I, too, know about them. It’s ‘whoever shows up at the gate’ that a competitor in my event has to brace for — and that includes my brother,” he added.

    SEE ALSO
    SEE ALSO

    The men’s race consists of 12 riders — including last year’s Asian champions Jukia Yoshimura (2017) and Yoshitaku Nagasako, both of Japan, and last year’s Kuala Lumpur SEA Games winner Gusti Bagus Saputra of Indonesia.

    The men’s seeding run is set at 9:25 a.m. (10:25 a.m. in Manila) right after the 9:05 a.m. seeding run for women where the Philippines’ Sienna Elaine Fiennes, only 19, will be seeing action in first major international competition after coming out of a UCI BMX juniors program at the World Cycling Centre in Aigle, Switzerland.

    Fiennes will face two formidable opponents, both from China —Zhang Yaru, the 2017-2018 Asian champion, and Lu Yan, the silver medalist in Incheon.

    ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW ↓

    But like Caluag, Fiennes feels everyone has a fighting chance for the gold in BMX racing where one spill would totally hurt a rider’s medal aspiration.

    The Jakarta track is basically UCI regulation, putting the participants on a level playing field.

    Caluag, who works at two California hospitals on three-day-a-week shifts, said he is more conditioned to race now than he was for Incheon.

    “I’m definitely more prepared now than Incheon,” said Caluag, who said he draws inspiration from his wife Stephanie and daughters Sydney and Kailani.

    This is the first time he is competing away from home without his wife.

    Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

    Read Next
    Watch Now
    Sorry, no results found for
  • POLL

    • Quiz

      Quiz Result