MANILA  – Now that he has  finally won his first gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games, Archand Christian Bagsit has  set his focus on his biggest dream, which is to play in the Olympic Games.

”My dream is really to play in the Olympic Games and this gold medal will inspire me to work and achieve it,” Bagsit said in radio interview yesterday, a day after ruling the men’s 400-meter run finals of the 27th SEAG in Myanmar.

It was the first SEA Games gold for the 22-year-old Bagsit, improving his silver medal finish in his first SEA Games two years ago in Indonesia.

Bagsit said his coach Lerma Balauitan played key role in improving his lackluster performance in the time trial of the event where another Filipino runner, Edgardo Alejan, finished second.

”Coach Lerma challenged me to give my best performance in the finals, so I did my best to win,” Bagsit, a native of Batangas province, said.

Bagsit won the gold medal in 47.22 seconds while Alejan bagged the silver with a time of 47.45 seconds.

Bagsit, a former basketball player, is a member of the team  that is  trying to get the gold medal in the 4X400 relay event yesterday.

With Bagsit’s gold, the Philippines athletics team has also  won two gold medals,  courtesy by veteran long jumper Henry Dagmil.

Dagmil, a 32-year-old former Olympian, ruled the men’s long jump with 8.80-meter leap that erased his personal best 7.99 he set in the 2008 Los Angeles Olympics.

The two gold medals in athletics, however, proved not enough to lift the Philippines in the medal standing where the Filipinos are struggling with 11 golds in the seventh place.*PNA

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