Janry Ubas— CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Janry Ubas accomplished what no Filipino had done when he breached 8 meters in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
That’s enough to keep Ubas going, after the region’s long jump king might have failed to extend his reign in the recent Asian Athletics Championships, where he placed sixth.
“I know what I’m capable of. On a good day, I feel I could jump longer and reach the Olympic distance,’’ said Ubas.
The 27-year-old from Misamis Oriental has three chances to make the 8.27-meter Olympic standard over the next 10 days with his first stop on Wednesday in a World Athletics-sanctioned tournament in Lappeenranta, Finland.
Two more World Athletics-rated meets are in store for Ubas in Trieste, Italy, on Saturday before wrapping up his European sojourn with coach Dario De Rosas on July 29 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Ubas is also looking at these tournaments as a springboard to join pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena and hurdler Robyn Brown in the World Athletics Championships on Aug. 19 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary.
“My goal at the Asian championships was to finish in the top 8 and I did. It would have been nice had I reached the standard,’’ said Ubas, whose best jump in the Asian tilt held in Bangkok, Thailand, was 7.98 m on his sixth and last attempt.
Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Tang caught everybody by surprise after claiming the gold in 8.40 m to qualify to the 2024 Paris Olympics along with silver performer Murali Sreeshankar of India (8.37 m). China’s Zhang Mingkun registered 8.08 m for the bronze.
“I’m confident that I can do it. I just have to stay healthy and outdo myself every time I’m out there on the field,’’ said Ubas, the SEA Games record-holder of 8.08 m achieved at the Cambodia SEA Games two months ago.
Both Brown (women’s 400-m hurdles) and Obiena captured gold medals in Bangkok that propelled Team Philippines to its finest performance in the continental championships since the 1987 edition when Lydia de Vega scored a golden sprint double.
Filipino tracksters reached the finals in 16 of the 22 events of the continental tournament, a campaign that Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano described as satisfactory.
“Most of our 21 athletes made the finals in this all-Asia championships. In this sense, the result is satisfactory,’’ said Capistrano. INQ