Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
The Southeast Asian Games-bound athletics team suffered a blow after reigning SEAG champion Kristina Knott pulled out of the Hanoi biennial meet due to injury.
The Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) announced this Monday, saying Knott suffered plantar fasciitis and would need at least two weeks to recover.
The 31st Vietnam SEAG is scheduled to start next week.
According to Mayo Clinic, plantar fasciitis is “one of the common causes of heel pain.”
“It involves inflammation of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of each foot and connects the heel bone to the toes,” the website read.
Knott has been consistently training in the United States with hopes of duplicating her Games-record golden feat in the 200 meters as well as improving her silver-medal performance in the 100m.
Brothers Sa-id and Yacine Guermali were also ruled out of the biennial meet, according to PATAFA.
Sa-id reportedly sustained an injury and won’t see action in the 1500m and 5000m, while Yacine begged off due to conflict pf schedule with his academics.
Despite the developments, national team coach Jeoffrey Chua is optimistic of the team’s medal chances particularly on Knott’s events as the PH team still has Kyla Richardson to rely on.
Richardson currently has a personal best of 23.12 seconds in the 200m and 11.31sec in the 100m, which are in SEAG standards.
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Credit belongs to : www.mb.com.ph
