ILAGAN CITY —Francis Obiena delivered a sparkling finale for the host country as he struck gold in the boys’ pole vault event of the 12th Southeast Asian Youth Athletics Championships Tuesday at the Ilagan Sports Complex here.
Coming out of a family with rich athletic pedigree, the 17-year-old Obiena tallied 4.00 meters en route to a golden finish in the final event of this prestigious eight-nation tourney that also serves as final tryouts for future members of the national team.
Singaporean Saciin Esan Maran tallied 3.80 meters to grab the silver medal, while Filipino John Emmanuel Reyes registered 3.40 meters to settle for the bronze medal.
Obiena’s feat lit up the Philippines’ medal haul in the final day of competition of this battle presented by the City of Ilagan and sponsored by Ayala Corporation with Milo, Philippine Sports Commission and International Amateur Athletics Federation as co-presentors.
It was such a dramatic finale for Obiena as he even made a bid to tally a new personal best of 4.35 meters in his final jump, much to the delight of the massive crowd that showed up to support the home squad in its battle against future SEA Games competitors.
“This one is for the country,” said the Grade 12 student of Chiang Kai Shek whose father, Edward, holds the pole vault record in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and is a decathlon bronze medalist in the SEA Games.
His uncle, Emerson, is a silver medalist in the SEA Games while his cousin, 21-year old Ernest John, is billed as one of the country’s brightest hopes in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, now training in Italy under the watchful eyes of Olympic legend Vitaly Petrov.
“I was trying to seize up my Singaporean opponent in the final stretch. But when he failed to clear the bar at four meters, I knew I could make it. I just tried to attempt 4.35 meters to somehow overcome my personal best of 4.30 meters.”
With Obiena’s late-tourney heroics, the Philippines shut down its campaign in this tourney that also has Foton Pilipinas, UCPB Gen and Run Rio as minor sponsors at sixth place with one gold, nine silver and 15 bronze medals while mighty Vietnam remained as the overall leader with 13 gold and eight silver medals.
Prior to Obiena’s impressive performance, the big guns of Palarong Pambansa fell apart.
Last year’s Palarong Pambansa champion Jessel Lumapas settled for the silver medal in the girls’ 400-meter run before storming back to claim the bronze in the girls’ 200-meter run while John Carlo Yuzon scored the bronze in the boys’ 200-meter run.
A Grade 10 student at Paliparan National High School in Cavite, Lumapas registered 58.94 seconds, a heartbeat away from the 58.16 seconds tallied by Thi Hong Han Le of Vietnam who claimed the gold medal in the girls’ 400-meter run.
Lumapas said her performance was quite below her personal best after she tallied 58.65 seconds in Batang Pinoy in Tagum City last year, or a few months after reigning supreme in Palarong Pambansa in the province of Albay.
“Medyo hindi po maganda ang itinakbo ko ngayon,” said Lumapas, who battled coughs and colds a few days leading to this tourney presented by the City of Ilagan and sponsored by Ayala Corporation with Milo, Philippine Sports Commission and International Amateur Athletics Federation as co-presentor and Foton Pilipinas, UCPB Gen and Run Rio as minor sponsors.
“Nagkaroon po ako ng ubo’t sipon bago magsimula ang laban. Hindi po ako makahinga. I guess kelangan ko pa po ng more training para mas mapababa ko pa po ang time ko.”
Lumapas tried to regain her bearings in the girls’ 200-meter run later in the day.
But her clocking of 26.02 seconds was not enough to topple Nor Aliyah Abd Rahman of Malaysia, who tallied 25.25 seconds to win the gold medal, and Thi Hoa Duong of Vietnam, who registered 25.68 seconds to settle for the silver medal.
“Pangarap ko po talagang maging member ng national team pero mageensayo po muna akong mabuti para mas ma-improve ko pa ang performance ko,” said Lumapas, the third child of a security guard in Dasmarinas, Cavite.
Also falling short was hometown hero, Yuzon.
Probably one of the best athletes coming out of this bustling city, Yuzon tallied 22.79 seconds to settle for the bronze medal, while Kittipoom Khotsara of Thailand took home the gold medal with 22.30 seconds and Muhammad Solihin Jamali of Malaysia ran away with the silver with 22.46 seconds.
With such heartbreaks, the Philippines remains without a gold medal in the eight-nation medal tally despite producing a total of eight silver and 13 bronze medals.
Mighty Vietnam further widened its lead with 12 gold and seven silver medals, while Indonesia and Malaysia zoomed past Thailand with a haul of five gold medals apiece.
Also emerging victorious for the home squad in the penultimate day of this tourney that also serves as appetizer for the 2017 Ayala Philippine National Open Invitational Athletics Championships on Thursday are Lealyn Sanita and Bernalyn Bejoy.
Sanita clocked four minutes and 55.63 seconds to claim the silver medal in the girls’ 1500-meter hurdles, while Bejoy tallied 64.15 seconds to score the bronze medal in the girls’ 400-meter hurdles.
Hope, however, is not yet completely lost for the fancied Philippines side as its bets in the boys’ pole vault, girls’ triple jump, girls’ shot put, girls’ 4×100-meter relay and boys 4×100-meter relay are all still competing as of press time in a bid to finally capture its first gold medal.