SINGAPORE—Marestella Torres has learned a lesson from her disappointing campaign in the Incheon Asian Games in 2014—for her, it’s better to be safe than sorry in these 28th Southeast Asian Games.
Torres fouled all her attempts in women’s long jump in Incheon, where she was favored to land a medal. After having shaken off that bad experience, she has focused on how to compete like a grizzled veteran that she really is in Singapore.
“’Make sure the first jump is good,” she said. “After that, you’re in control.”
Torres competes in her pet event on Wednesday at the Singapore National Stadium against 10 other athletes, including the gold winner in Incheon, Maria Natalia Londa of Indonesia.
Londa leapt to 6.55 meters in Incheon, off Torres’s personal-best 6.71 meters she registered in winning her third SEA Games gold medal in Palembang four years ago.
For these Singapore Games, Torres said she will be shrugging off the pressure and would merely “jump for the win.”
“Ang pressure, nariyan naman lagi, kusa naman ’yan kung sobra ang expectations,” said Torres, 34, and a proud mom to one-year-and-four-month-old Eliemar Matvie.
Joseph Sy, Torres’s specific coach, will be arriving on Wednesday morning to watch over his ward.