Showtime for Obiena

HANGZHOU — It’s time to shine.

With his countrymen and great credentials behind him, EJ Obiena sees action in the final of men’s pole vault Saturday night hoping to secure the first gold medal for Team Philippines in the 19th Asian Games here.

“My aim is to win. That’s the goal,” said Obiena.

The 27-year-old has raised the bar so high on the Asian level that no one comes close to him from among the 11 other finalists who will march to the 80,800-seat Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium for the final scheduled at 7:05 p.m.

Obiena will carry a personal best and season best of 6.0 meters, which is the existing Asian record. No other Asian has breached the 6.0m mark, and Obiena is only the 28th in the world to clear the barrier.

Here in Hangzhou, the three men who can give Obiena a legitimate challenge are China’s Yao Jie (with a best of 5.82) and Huang Bokai (5.75) and Japan’s Seito Yamamoto, the reigning Asian Games champion with a season best of 5.40 meters.

Numbers don’t lie, and barring any misfortune, the 6-foot-2 Filipino, who has trained in Italy for over five years now, should go on and kiss the gold medal in front of the cameras.

“With good vibes, it’s sure for gold,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino, well aware that Obiena had cleared the 6.0 mark twice this season..

“I’m counting on EJ,” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann. Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano, for his part, said, “EJ will do what needs to be done.”

Obiena’s fellow athletes here and back home will also be cheering for him. They will keep their fingers crossed that the two-time champion in the Asian Championships and three-time winner in the Southeast Asian Games could provide the needed spark.

Second bronze for Eala

Team Philippines won another bronze medal yesterday in mixed doubles in tennis to somehow cushion the impact of boxer Nesthy Petecio’s painful loss in the women’s 57kg class.

Teen sensation Alex Eala, winner of the bronze in the individual play, had high hopes in her partnership with  Francis Casey Alcantara. But they couldn’t get it done and took a 5-7, 3-6 loss to Liang En-Shuo and Huang Tsung-hao of Taipei at the futuristic Hangzhou Tennis Centre.

Not too many people expected to see Eala and Alcantara reach the medal round, and in the end they became the first mixed pair from the Philippines to win a medal in the Asian Games after Patricia Yngayo and Federico Deyro won the silver in 1966 in Bangkok.

“If over-achievement is a thing, then we have the potential to do more,” said the 18-year-old Eala, who in the singles semifinals gave tournament top seed and world No. 23 Zheng Qinweng a tough time before dropping a 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6 loss.

Eala will board the flight back to Manila with two bronze medals in her carry-on luggage.

Thanks to Eala and Alcantara, Team Philippines now has six bronze medals, counting the others from Patrick King Perez (poomsae), Jones Inso (wushu), Fred Padua (wushu), Clemente Tabugara (wushu), and the shining silver from Arnel Mandal (wushu).

Team Philippines, as of 6 p.m. last night, was ranked No. 24 in the medal standings. China, the host, is two gold medals shy of the century mark with its six-day haul of 98-57-28. South Korea was second with 24-24-42 while Japan was third with 21-32-34.

So early, the Chinese athletes, all 886 of them, have turned this Asian Games into a battle for second.

Petecio bows out

Petecio, the silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, was dwarfed by her opponent from Taipei, Lin Yu Ting, and absorbed a 4-1 defeat in her first outing at the Hangzhou Gymnasium.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Philippine boxing team which had hoped to see Petecio go far in the tournament as she did in Tokyo in 2021.

But age must be catching up on the 31-year-old Petecio.

“Nag-unahan kami kung sino ang makakakuha ng saktong style. Naunahan niya talaga ako,” said Petecio, referring to her 5-foo-9 opponent.

On her way out of the ring, Petecio also missed out on an outright slot to the Paris Olympics. Boxing is one of nine sports here offering 74 tickets to the next Olympics. Now, Petecio will have to vie in the tougher Olympic qualifiers.

“Hindi pa tayo tapos,” said Petecio.

Her loss left fellow Tokyo medalists Carlo Paalam (silver) and Eumir Marcial (bronze) and John Marvin as the only remaining bets for the Philippine boxing team, which has delivered a total of 15 gold medals in the last 18 editions of the Asian Games.

Off the mark

In softball, the Philippine Blu Girls fell to reigning Asian Games champion Japan, 9-2, and missed a crack at the gold. They scored two runs in the second inning and only trailed, 2-3, after five innings. But Japan started to connect and added four runs in the sixth.

The Blu Girls can keep their hopes for the bronze medal alive when they face Taipei, the silver medalist in 2018, today.

In shooting, Franchette Quiroz submitted a 569 in the women’s 10-meter air pistol and bowed out of the final round and in 29th place despite missing her own national record by just three points. Amparo Acuna, meanwhile, scored 574 points in the 50m rifle 3 positions and fell short of the 583 she had last June. She wound up in 19th place after the qualification phase.

In golf, Rianne Malixi had a pitch-in eagle to spice up her second-round 70 but still lagged behind in the medal race as the top guns pulled away at the West Lake International course. Her 138 total dropped her to ninth place and six strokes behind Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol (65) and seven off China’s Ruoning Yin, the world No. 2 (67). Lois Kaye Go, gold medalist for the Philippines in the team event in 2018, struggled with a 78 for a 148 to miss the cut in individual play. As a team, they fell to No. 9 and 19 strokes behind the Chinese leaders.

In men’s play, Clyde Mondilla turned cold with a 70 after a 65 and dropped to a share of 13th place and 13 shots behind the leader from Hong Kong, Taichi Kho, who shot a 67 after a 61. Amateur Carl Corpus did better with his 68 after a 71 to move into a tie for 29th place while Aidric Chan had a 73 for 144, missing the cut in the process.

The men’s team stood at ninth place and 27 big strokes behind the leaders from South Korea.