Obiena soars high in China
MANILA, Philippines — EJ Obiena flew to Tianjin, China determined to collect the one thing missing in his vast trophy cabinet – the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. Mission accomplished.
The Filipino Asian pole-vault king cleared 5.70 meters in fending off the Chinese challenge and ruling the event for the first time Saturday night.
It underscored his domination of the continent being the multiple Southeast Asian Games winner, Asian Games gold medalist in 2022 and Asian Championships winner thrice in 2019, 2023, 2025.
For Obiena, this one in Tianjin was super special.
“Your boy is finally an Asian Indoor champ,” said an ecstatic Obiena on his social media account.
“This means way more than just a win for me,” he added.
China’s Li Chenyang and Chen Yang took the silver and the bronze with a 5.60m and 5.40m, respectively.
The Tondo, Manila native, the Asian record-holder of 5.93m, went for 5.80m but failed in three attempts.
It was the second triumph for Obiena after topping one in Cottbus, Germany last month with a 5.77m.
From Tianjin, Obiena quickly rushed back to Germany to join the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event in Karlsruhe.
The Philippine embassy in Beijing joined Obiena in celebration, saying: “It was a masterclass of power and skills.”
Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz conveyed his appreciation to Obiena for winning the gold and bringing pride to the country. He also thanked the other Filipino athletes for waving the flag high.
“We are always proud of them,” said FlorCruz.
John Cabang Tolentino finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles; high jumper Leonard Grospe landed sixth and middle-distance runner Hussein Lorana was third. – Pia Lee-Brago
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