FILE – The Philippines’ Janry Ubas celebrates after winning gold in the men’s long jump REUTERS/Jeremy Lee
MANILA, Philippines-Janry Ubas is squarely determined to penetrate the start list of the World Athletics Championships with another triumph at the Triveneto Meeting Internazionale in Trieste, Italy.
Ubas, the Southeast Asian Games long jump champion and record holder, topped the meet with a 7.72-meter leap, narrowly defeating Cuba’s Lester Lescay Gay (7.71m) on Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila).
Thapelo Monaiwa of Botswana placed third (7.54m) in the medal match where 14 participants from various countries showed up.
Ubas began his final assault to clinch a spot in the world championships set in Budapest, Hungary on Aug. 19-27 with a win at the Motonet Grand Prix Lappeenranta in Finland last week on the strength of a tournament-best 7.86m jump.
The last stop for Ubas and his coach Dario de Rosas in the three-leg European series is Stuttgart, Germany on July 29, a day before the qualification window for the world championships closes.
Ranked No. 53 in the world, Ubas’ pair of victories will move him up the pecking order where the top 36 will see action in the Budapest worlds.
The current world ranking will be updated on Tuesday and Ubas, whose personal best is 8.08m, is hoping to crack the field and join pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena and hurdler Robyn Brown in the global meet.