Olympic bet injured

MANILA, Philippines — Pole vault ace Natalie Uy hit a snag in her training program as she suffered a hand injury that forced her out of action for majority of August.

Uy, an Olympic aspirant who ruled the American Track League Meet No. 3 Saturday in Marietta, Georgia, cut her left hand after her pole broke mid-leap in the series’ succeeding tournament Thursday.

“Hand injury required seven stitches,” Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico told The STAR. “She’ll get back to training around end of August, which is (still) well within the program she and her coach Brad Walker agreed on.” 

Walker, according to Juico, stressed that the accident "had nothing to do with the technique" of the reigning Southeast Asian Games queen.

“They’re talking to the manufacturer of the pole who is now determining whether it went straight to Natalie or if it passed through several channels,” he said.

The 25-year-old Uy has just resumed her training and competitions after months in lockdown.

Last month, she cleared 4.30m at the Acadia Invitational in North Carolina, matching her personal best and surpassing her own Philippine and SEAG mark of 4.25m. Per http://pinoyathletics.info, records posted in the said tournament is pending ratification from World Athletics.

Uy followed this up with a winning performance at the ATL’s third meet in Georgia, where she posted 4.11m and beat Marissa Kalsey and Megab Zumlich via countback.

She needs to hit 4.70m to qualify for Tokyo.