Obiena strikes gold

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino pole-vault ace EJ Obiena has been collecting victories recently while slowly but surely trying to regain his old form.

But in hindsight, the 30-year-old Tondo, Manila native was really sizing up Seifeldin Abdelsalam, a 21-year-old rising star from Qatar, and preparing for a potential head-on collision in next month’s Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

Obiena won the psywar with Abdelsalam, an Egyptian-born former Asian U18 and U20 champion, taking the gold medal with a 5.76-meter clearance in the Halberstädter Höhenflug Internationales Stabhochsprung-Meeting auf dem Domplatz in Germany Friday.

Abdelsalam, now ranked No. 20 in the world or just six rungs behind Obiena at No. 14, gave a serious challenge but eventually ended up settling for the silver with a 5.66m.