By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
World No. 4 EJ Obiena is on a big mission.
All eyes will be on the two-time Olympian as he tries to wipe away the cloud of despair hovering over Team Philippines the past few days when he defends his men’s pole vault crown in the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea on Saturday, May 31.
The battle is set at 7:15 p.m. (6:15 p.m., Philippine time) and Obiena will be up against six familiar faces and another six emerging rivals.
Among his potential rivals are last year’s silver medalist Hussain Asim Al Hizam of Saudi Arabia and bronze winner Huang Bokai of China.
Other returning athletes are Japan’s Tomoya Karasawa, Qatar’s Seifeldin Heneida Abdesalam, Thailand’s Patsapong Amsam-ang and local bet Han Duhyeon.
As expected, Obiena is the overwhelming favorite as he carries the Asian record of 6.00 meters he set at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
His golden performance of 5.91m in the previous edition was a far cry from the silver-medal showing of 5.56m and bronze-medal performance of 5.51m of Al Hizam and Huang, respectively.
But as any elite athletes do, there is no room for complacency for Obiena as he tries to better his performance particularly this season and win the country’s first gold in the event.
So far, his season-best is 5.80m he made at the PATAFA Philippine Pole Vault Challenge early this month.
Obiena’s appearance could just be the needed saving grace for the PH team, which has yet to win a medal of any color at press time after William Morrison, Leonard Grospe and Daniella Daytana failed to make it to the podium of their respective field events.
Morrison came in seventh in the men’s shot put after heaving 18.55 meters – a far cry from his season-best 18.81m he posted at the PH Open in New Clark City early this month. Iran’s Mohammadreza Tayebiseifkoti claimed the gold medal with an impressive 20.32m, while China’s Xing Jialiang (19.97m) and Saudi Arabia’s (19.92m) finished silver and bronze, respectively.
Daytana, for her part, finished ninth out of 10 athletes in the women’s discus throw with 44.03m as China’s Feng Bing (61.90m), Thailand’s Subenrat Insaeng (57.68m) and Japan’s Nanaka Kori (56.48m) won gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Grospe also came in 11th in men’s high jump with 2.10m, with Woo Sanghyeok winning the gold with 2.29m, and Japan’s Tomohiro Shinno (2.26m) and Thailand’s Tawan Kaeodam (2.23m) coming in silver and bronze, respectively.
Meanwhile, Fil-American Robyn Brown hopes for a repeat golden performance when she competes in the heats of the women’s 400m hurdles at press time along with Lauren Hoffman. Finals are scheduled on Friday.
Also in action at press time are Bernalyn Bejoy in women’s 800m, Hussein Loraña in men’s 800m, and Yacine Guermali in men’s 5000m.
