EJ in tough Asian Games challenge

The gap is narrowing between World No. 14 pole vaulter EJ Obiena and the next highest Asian contender, No. 20 Seifeldin Abdelsalam of Qatar. There are 10 Asians ranked in the world top 100, including five from China. Under Asian Games rules, each country is allowed up to two vaulters on Sept. 19-Oct. 4 in Aichi-Nagoya with the qualifying standard set at 5.45m.

Every top 100 Asian has cleared at least 5.60m with Obiena registering the highest at 6.00m twice. The 10 Asians are Obiena, Abdelsalam, No. 23 Bokai Huang of China, No. 25 Li Chenyang of China, No. 54 Tao Zhong of China, No. 57 Hussain Asim Al Hizam of Saudi Arabia, No. 59 Jie Yao of China, No. 70 Patsapong Amsam-Ang of Thailand, No. 76 Masaki Eijima of Japan, No. 79 Yang Chen of China and No. 87 Tomoya Karasawa of Japan.

At the Asian Games in Hangzhou three years ago, Obiena took the gold at 5.90m, Huang the silver at 5.65m and Al Hizam the bronze at 5.65m (the tie for second was broken on countback). In Halberstadt, Germany, last Friday, Obiena bagged the gold at 5.76m and Abdelsalam the silver at 5.66m. Abdelsalam, 21, is expected to crowd Obiena in the coming Asian Games battle for gold. The Qatar challenger’s best mark is 5.75m and this year, has competed in seven meets with a high of 5.72m. Obiena, 30, has joined 19 tournaments this year with a high of 5.85m. Of the 19 events, he topped six, finished second twice and third twice.

A darkhorse in Aichi-Nagoya is Amsam-Ang who matched Obiena’s high of 5.70m at the SEA Games last year and settled for silver on countback. That was Obiena’s fourth SEA Games gold. In Halberstadt, Obiena twisted his left ankle on his first clearance of 5.56m and soldiered on to jump 5.66m and 5.76m to strike gold. He failed to clear 5.90m – the qualifying standard for the 2028 LA Olympics – thrice. Obiena said it’s his goal to make the standard within the month. His next event is the Internationale Stabhochsprung Meeting in Jockgrim, Germany, tomorrow. Obiena’s adviser Jim Lafferty said the ankle sprain isn’t severe. “EJ’s testing it now and talking possible solutions,” he noted. “The ankle is tender. We hope he’ll be ready to go. The twist was nasty. Everyone expected him to bail out but he stayed, limped, competed and won.”

Obiena said the opposition is “getting tougher” at the Asian level. “When someone consistently gets a high mark, everybody follows and asks why not me?” he said. “It’s the nature of the sport. That elevates the performance to make the competition tougher.”