Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena during the Orlen Copernicus Cup. ORLEN COPERNICUS CUP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Ernest John Obiena was excluded by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) from its master list of athletes going to the 31st Southeast Asian Games.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said Obiena’s absence in the coming SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam will deny the country one sure gold medal.
“I can only shake my head, this is horrible,” said Tolentino upon seeing the entire Patafa roster without the world’s No.5 pole vaulter.
Patafa has submitted its entry by numbers form along with 38 other national sports associations (NSAs) taking part in Vietnam submitted to the POC.
“Barring serious injury, EJ will win the gold medal even blindfolded in Hanoi,” Tolentino said. “He’s not only the best in the SEA Games, but in the whole of Asia—not to forget that he’s No. 5 in the world.”
The POC tasked NSAs to submit their entries by numbers for the SEA Games on Monday as Vietnam set the deadline for submission of team compositions for the May 12 to 23 Games is on Saturday.
Philippines’ Ernest John Obiena competes during the indoor men’s pole vault Beijer gala event in Uppsala, Sweden, on February 9, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)
“An NSA relentlessly sanctioning its No. 1 athlete—a guaranteed win and who knows a future world and Olympic champion—I just couldn’t find a logic,” Tolentino said.
Rommel Sytin, one of the country’s business leaders, signed the entry by numbers form as Patafa’s secretary general.
Patafa has the second biggest number of entries with 53 athletes and 17 officials, second only to esports which has 54 entries.
Obiena being out on the list meant he will also miss the World Indoor Championships scheduled March 18 to 20 in Belgrade because the World Athletics’ deadline of registration for qualified athletes was last Monday.
Had Obiena been endorsed by Patafa, he could have been the first full-blooded Filipino to compete in the world indoors, according to Patafa training director Renato Unso.
Obiena won the men’s pole vault gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games at the New Clark City Stadium with a leap of 6.45 meters. Less than two years after on September 12, 2021, he broke the Asian record with 5.93 meters at the Golden Rooftop Challenge, in Innsbruck, Austria.
Obiena was also the only Asian to qualify at the Tokyo Olympics last year.