Olympian Obiena to take part in online pole vault competition

MANILA, Philippines – Tokyo Olympics qualifier EJ Obiena returns to action this August with an upcoming virtual competition against the world’s finest pole vaulters.

The 24-year-old star will go up against fellow Olympians Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland and Matt Ludwig of the US in the online contest to be streamed from their respective training locations this August 17 starting at 9 p.m. (Manila time).

Organized by Fine Guard Sports, this event will be the first for Obiena since the pandemic erupted earlier this year while he was in the middle of Olympic training in Italy.

The SEA Games gold medalist was supposed to participate in the postponed Asian Indoor Athletics Championship last February and the World Indoor Athletics Championship last March.

Earlier this month, Obiena’s teammate and Olympic hopeful Natalie Uy also plunged back to action by setting a national women’s pole vault record of 4.30 meters in UCS Pink Panther event in North Carolina.

This virtual tiff will serve as part of Obiena’s yearlong preparations for the Summer Games that have been moved to 2021.

Obiena was the first Filipino to book an Olympic berth last September after setting a national men’s record of 5.81 meters in a qualifying competition held in Chiara, Italy.

Boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno along with gymnast Carlos Yulo are the other Filipino Olympic qualifiers so far.