MARESTELLA TORRES

Marestella Torres is facing a daunting task but the Asian long jump queen remains confident of putting up a decent show in the World Indoor Championships which start tomorrow in Doha, Qatar.

“It’s going to be tough. All the best athletes in the world are coming. But I am ready.,” said Torres, 27, who became the country’s toast last year after ending RP’s 22-year gold medal drought in the Asian Championships in Guangzhou, China.

She will be up against some of the world’s finest athletes, including defending world champion Brittney Reese, who will spearhead the powerhouse, 51-member US team.

Torres left the country yesterday with hopes of improving her personal record. sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federation.

“I also want to surpass my personal records here,” said Torres, one of the five recipients of the 2010 Philippine Sportswriters Association’s joint Athlete of the Year award.

Torres is hoping to eclipse her personal best of 6.68 meters she logged in the 2009 Laos Southeast Asian Games which broke the 20-year-old mark of 6.52m set by former Filipina long jump queen Elma Muros-Posadas in the 1989 Kuala Lumpur Games.

Before that gold medal winning jump, she leapt 6.51m in the Asian Championships last year to win the country’s first gold in an Asian level competition since former Asian sprint queen Lydia de Vega won the 100 meter and 200 meter gold in the 1987 Singapore edition of the meet.