Photo by Nino Jesus Orbeta/ sports.inquirer.net

The Philippines finally gains a gold medal courtesy of Daniel Patrick Caluag, who won the Cycling BMX event at the 2014 Asian games in Incheon, South Korea on Wednesday, October 1.

Caluag met his expectations and had an excellent performance in the race, which was held at the Ganghwa Asiad BMX Track, to end the Philippines’ drought for a gold medal in this year’s Asian Games.

Caluag topped the seeding race and swept Heats 1 to 3 in the said event. He finished the seeding run first among the group after clocking in at 35.489 seconds, 0.797 seconds ahead of Japanese rider Masahiro Sampei.

Caluag continued to show his strong performance during the medal round as he clocked in at an even faster time of 35.277 seconds. Sampei stayed within striking distance with a time of 35.444 seconds.

The Filipino Olympian and the Japanese rider continued their very close battle in Heat 2 as Daniel Patrick had a time of 35.366 seconds while Sampei came in only .120 seconds later.

In the last race, Caluag came out stronger in the last race clocking at 35.431 seconds which was enough to claim the gold medal for the Philippines. Japan’s Sampei bags the silver medal and China’s Yan Zhu claims the bronze medal.

With the Asian Games’ closing ceremonies happening today at Incheon, the Philippines currently has a total of one gold medal, three silver medals, and eleven bronze medals, currently ranking at 22nd place among the 45 countries participating in the games.