By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — World-class athletes EJ Obiena and Carlos Yulo hope to live up to their lofty status as they launch their respective gold-medal campaigns Monday, May 8, when athletics and gymnastics competitions blast off in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in different venues here.
Reigning SEAG champion Obiena arrived in this capital city from Europe over the weekend in time for the pole vault competitions at the Morodok Techo National Stadium, while multiple gold medalist Yulo came from Manila with his teammates for the artistic gymnastics event at the Olympic Stadium Center.
Obiena is not only gunning to retain his gold medal in his event, but is also determined to reset his own SEAG mark of 5.46 meters.
He’s also the proud owner of the national and Asian mark of 5.94m which he posted when he captured the historic bronze medal in last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Despite his records and recent achievements, Obiena refused to take his rivals lightly especially with the current weather conditions reaching to as high as 38 degree Celsius the past days.
Yulo, meanwhile, will see action in the individual all-around, men’s team final, as well as the qualification in high bar and parallel bars in his bid to win all four gold medals at stake.
He joins Juancho Miguel Besana, Ivan Cruz, Ace de Leon, Jan Gwynn Timbang, and Jhon Romeo Santillan.
Meanwhile, 13 gold medals are at stake on the second day of athletics competitions, with the PH team hoping to secure its first gold after finishing with one silver and one bronze courtesy of Arland Arbois and Christine Hallasgo in men’s and women’s marathon on Saturday at Angkor Wat.
Among those seeing action are sprinters Kristina Knott and Kayla Richardson in the women’s 200m, Elijah Cole in pole vault, Melvin Calano and John Paul Sarmiento in men’s javelin throw, Joida Gagnao and Abiegail Manzano in women’s 5000m, and Umajesty Williams in men’s 200m.
The PH athletics team is aching to improve on its previous performance in Hanoi, Vietnam last year where they won five gold, seven silver and 14 bronze medals.
