EJ uneasy on Asian throne

Defending Asian Games pole vault gold medalist EJ Obiena will face a strong challenge from Qatar’s rising star Seifeldin Heneida Abdesalam when they face off at the coming Asiad in Nagoya on Sept. 19-Oct. 4 next year.

Abdesalam, 20, was the only qualifier among six Asian contenders to jump 5.75 with 10 others at the recent final of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. There were 36 vaulters in the start list. The Asians who failed to clear the qualifying mark of 5.75 were Saudi Arabia’s Hussain Asim Al Jizam, Obiena and China’s Huang Bokai, Li Chenyang and Tao Zhong. Hussain registered 5.70 while Obiena, Bokai and Chenyang recorded 5.55. Zhong cleared 5.40.

Obiena, 29, hasn’t gone over 5.80 this year and failed to qualify for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing last March. In Tokyo, he couldn’t clear 5.70 twice and went for broke to try 5.75 but crashed out. “EJ’s been hurt all year,” noted Obiena’s adviser Jim Lafferty. “He hasn’t had rhythm with injuries. EJ had to get lucky in Tokyo and that didn’t happen. He just needs a good offseason to heal up.” In the Tokyo final, Abdesalam finished ninth with a jump of 5.75, his personal best. He was the youngest competitor and looms to be the next Asian pole vault superstar following in Obiena’s footsteps.

Obiena is scheduled to arrive in Manila today and will participate with eight other world-ranked athletes in the Atletang Ayala Pole Vault Challenge at the Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati, tomorrow and Sunday. The street event is completely funded by private sponsors and not a single centavo is from taxpayers’ money. “This has been a dream – to bring the world of pole vault to the Philippines,” said Obiena. “I really want to showcase the ability of the Philippines to host such an event.”

Joining Obiena in the Ayala event are World No. 5 Ersu Sasma of Turkey, 25 (personal best 5.92), No. 6 Menno Vloon of the Netherlands, 31 (5.96), No. 12 Thibaut Collet of France, 28 (5.95), No. 13 Ben Broeders of Belgium, 30 (5.85), No. 14 Austin Miller of USA, 31 (5.92), No. 15 Piotr Lisek of Poland, 33 (6.02), No. 16 Oleg Zernikel of Germany, 30 (5.81) and No. 23 Matt Ludwig of USA, 29 (5.90). Obiena has slid from No. 2 to No. 5 to No. 7 in the world rankings. Of the nine vaulters, only Lisek and Obiena are in the elite 6.00 meter list.

All nine athletes participated in Tokyo with Sasma, Vloon, Collet and Abdesalam reaching the final. Collet wound up the highest finisher at No. 5 with a clearance of 5.90. Vloon placed seventh, also at 5.90, Abdesalam ninth at 5.75 and Sasma failed to mark with three flubbed attempts at 5.55. At the next Asian Games, Obiena will be tested by Abdesalam who’s expected to climb the world ladder from No. 41, No. 11 Bokai, No. 22 Chenyang, No. 45 Zhong and No. 52 Al Hizam. Chenyang, 22, and Bokai, 28, are China’s top bets, both with a personal best of 5.85.