The go-to guys of Philippine athletics, world’s no. 3 pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena and sprinter Eric Cray will spearhead a 17-member Philippine national squad to its first international outing this year.
The two are expected to give their best performances in the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships slated from Feb. 10 to 12 in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.
“They’re our go-to guys. They will win medals and it’s almost a given. As for the Olympics, there’s no guarantee, they have to qualify,” said Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano.
Fil-Americans Kristina Marie Knott (women’s 60-meter), Natalie Uy (women’s pole vault) and William Edward Morrison III (men’s shot put) will join them.
PATAFA secretary general Edward Kho named the five, along with local bets Hockett Delos Santos (men’s pole vault), Mark Harry Diones (men’s triple jump), Leonard Grospe (men’s high jump) and Janry Ubas (men’s long jump and heptathlon).
There will be new faces in the mix like John Cabang (men’s 60-meter hurdles), Mariano Masano and Edwin Giron Jr. (men’s 800-meter) and Michael Carlo Del Prado (men’s 400-meter).
Also included in the roster are Jelly Dianne Paragile and Melissa Escoton (women’s 60-meter hurdles), and Alexie Mae Caimoso and Sarah Dequinan (women’s pentathlon).
Cray, Del Prado, Giron and Masano will team up in the 4x400m relays.
Kho said that the meet they will join early this year will give them the highest possible World Athletics’ points in their quest to make it to the Olympics.
Obiena remained at no. 3 in the world rankings with 1394 points behind Swedish Armand Duplantis (1601) and American Christopher Nilsen (1430).
The national athletics team is preparing for three major tournaments this year, namely the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia from May 5 to 17, the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China (Sept. 23 to Oct. 8), and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Bangkok-Chonburi, Thailand (Nov. 17 to 26). Peter Atencio