EJ Obiena —AFP
EJ Obiena is a positive medal guess for Group Philippines within the coming nineteenth Asian Video games (Asiad). Hurdler Robyn Brown and lengthy jumper Janry Ubas might make it three podium finishers for the nation’s monitor and discipline squad.
Brown dominated the ladies’s 400-meter hurdles of the Asian Athletics Championships not too long ago and whereas Ubas positioned seventh in the identical meet, the reigning South East Asian (SEA) Video games lengthy bounce king generally is a jaw-dropper on a great day.
“If he can bounce the way in which he carried out within the SEA Video games, we are able to probably earn a bronze medal,’’ mentioned nationwide coach Dario de Rosas.
The 29-year-old Ubas is the nationwide file holder in lengthy bounce with the 8.08 m he achieved throughout his decathlon stint within the Cambodia SEA Video games final Could. Ubas finally seized the gold in lengthy bounce and a silver in decathlon.
“He solely wants one fortunate bounce. A medal is feasible if he can equal and even surpass his finest,’’ mentioned De Rosas, who handles the coaching of Ubas.
These sorts of surprises obtained Brown on prime of the medal stage within the Asian Championships final July in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Los Angeles, California-based Brown nipped a few Japanese high-profile hurdlers in Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto by clocking 57.50 seconds, only a fraction of a second forward of Utsunomiya (57.73) and Yamamoto (57.80).
“It’s going to be powerful repeating that act. I’ll be certain that I’ll be in nice form in the course of the race,’’ mentioned Brown, who was unable to zoom previous the qualifying heats of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, final month.
Whether or not it comes from Obiena, Ubas or Brown, a medal within the continental meet in Hangzhou, China, can lastly finish the nation’s podium heartbreak within the Asian Video games.
Since Elma Muros introduced house a bronze medal from the ladies’s lengthy bounce of the 1994 Asian Video games in Hiroshima, Japan, no Filipino trackster has since bagged a medal of any shade.
“We’re assured of EJ successful within the pole vault. He’s the most effective in Asia proper now,’’ mentioned nationwide coach Isidro del Prado, a former dash hero in worldwide meets throughout his prime.
Unfinished enterprise
Obiena has unfinished enterprise within the Asian Video games after winding up empty-handed within the 2018 Asiad in Indonesia.
From thereon, progress has been build up for the world’s No. 3 vaulter, successful the Asian championships twice and claiming a bronze and a silver within the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, final 12 months and this 12 months in Budapest, respectively.
The Philippine Athletics Monitor and Subject Affiliation headed by its president Terry Capistrano has lined up 13 athletes plus 11 coaches and officers within the Hangzhou Video games slated Sept. 23 to Oct. 8.
Six-time SEA Video games champion Eric Cray (males’s 400-m hurdles), John Tolentino (males’s 110-m hurdles), Kristina Knott (girls’s 100 m and 200 m), William Morrison (shot put), Ronnie Malipay (triple bounce) and the 4×400-m relay staff of Umajesty Williams, Frederick Ramirez, Joyme Sequita and Michael Del Prado will even be there.
“We’re prepared for the Asiad and all of us are hoping our athletes can snatch a medal,’’ mentioned De Rosas, a pole vault specialist for the nationwide staff within the 80s. INQ
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