Tokyo 'best shot' for Philippines to clinch Olympic gold, says Obiena
MANILA, Philippines — EJ Obiena shares the optimism of many Filipino sports fans that the 19-strong contingent of Team Philippines athletes headed to Tokyo will likely end the gold medal drought for the country in the Olympic Games.
During an episode of "Philstar: Home Base Olympics Edition", Obiena expressed his optimism that with the caliber of athletes going into the delayed Games in Japan, it is more likely than not that the elusive gold medal will finally find its way to the country.
"This is a star-studded team going into Tokyo... This is probably the best shot we have," said Obiena.
Obiena himself is one of the potential athletes to end the medal drought, or at least bring home some hardware — especially considering his recent performances in meets in Europe as the Games approach.
The 25-year-old chooses to keep his head down, though, and instead names his Team Philippines teammates as the biggest hopes for the history making feat.
"You have a veteran Hidilyn Diaz, who's already won silver in 2016, you have Nesthy Petecio, world champion in boxing, you have Eumir [Marcial], same level of calibre. You have Caloy [Yulo], who's also a world champion, and you have these other qualifiers... They're not qualified because they're not good, they're qualified because they're really good and they deserve to be there," said Obiena.
More than just ending the drought, though, Obiena also just wants to bring a little bit of good news to the Filipino people -- especially during the challenges brought about the pandemic.
"Hopefully, this year we get the elusive gold for the country and bring some home back, and bring some happiness to the nation that's greatly in need of that," he said.
Obiena, Diaz, Petecio, Marcial, and Yulo are joined by pugs Irish Magno and Carlo Paalam, skateboarder Margielyn Didal, shooter Jayson Valdez, golfers Juvic Pagunsan, Yuka Saso, and Bianca Pagdanganan, weightlifter Elreen Ando, tankers Remedy Rule and Luke Gebbie, karate jin Kurt Barbosa, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, rower Cris Nievarez, and sprinter Kristina Knott.
- Latest
- Trending
