Photo from Olympic.ph
POLE vaulter Ernest John Obiena is making progress in his bid to secure a spot in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Obiena smashed his own Philippine and Southeast Asian records in ruling his event in the 78th Singapore Open Track and Field Championships over the weekend.
The 6-foot-2 second-generation athlete cleared 5.55 meters, bettering the 5.50m he set early this month in the Philippine Open Invitationals at Philsports track and field arena in Pasig.
Hsie Chia-han of Chinese Taipei bagged the silver medal with a 5.10m effort and Iskandar Alwi of Malaysia cleared the bar at 5 meters for the bronze in the competition held at the 55,000-seater Singapore National Stadium, the hub of last year’s SEA Games.
Obiena, son of former pole vault king Emerson Obiena, has until the middle of next month to meet or surpass the Olympic qualifying standard of 5.70. He is entered in four more international meets before the June deadline.
The Philippines collected a total of five gold medals in Singapore with Edgardo Alejan also topping the men’s 400 meters, Christopher Ulboc ruling the 3000m steeple-chase, Rosie Villarito snatching the women’s javelin title and Mervin Guarte topping the men’s 1500m.
Marestella Torres claimed the silver in women’s long jump, matching the feat of fellow long-jumper Julian Fuentes in the men’s event who leapt to a personal best of 7.69 meters.
Obiena’s sister, Emily Jeane, ended up with the bronze medal in women’s pole vault (3.40m). Indonesia’s Nara Jelita won the gold (3.75) and Singapore’s Rachel Yang grabbed the silver (3.60).
Torres, Asia’s former long-jump queen, has been nominated by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as its choice for a “quota berth” in the Olympics.
Once the reigning SEA Games record-holder gets the nod of the IAAF, Torres will join Filipino-American hurdler Eric Cray in the Philippine delegation to Rio de Janeiro in the Summer games slated Aug. 5 to 21.