[All eyes will be on the Filipino athletes when the country hosts the Southeast Asian Games come November 30. And the pressure is on the Philippines to deliver not only a successful hosting of the Games but also win the overall championship - a feat it achieved the last time it hosted the conclave in 2005. The country is targeting at least 120 gold medals. Before the Games commence, Spin.ph lists down 15 of the Philippines' best gold-medal hopes. Here's the seventh part.]
MARY Joy Tabal gave the Philippines its first gold medal in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, and she hopes to replcate that performance when the SEA Games is held in the country this year.
The Cebuana marathoner is looking for a repeat of her dominant performance and join the elite club of multiple SEAG champions.

Back in 2017, Tabal was by her lonesome at the finish, wrapping up the 42-km course in two hours, 48 minutes and 26 seconds. That was seven minutes clear of her closest pursuant and silver medalist Hoang Thi Thanh of Vietnam.
Unfortunately, she could not replicate her feat at the continental level, with her 11th place finish in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta serving as one of her main motivations in this campaign.
Wiser and tougher, the 30-year-old wants to show that she is still the standard in the region, all the more with the country hosting the biennial games.

Tabal hiked her preparations with personal coach John Duenas, enlisting the services of Japanese trainers Yuhei and Akio Usami to keep her stranglehold of the gold medal.
She'll definitely be the one to watch when that gun signals the start of the marathon events in Clark come December 6.
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