JANRY UBAS salvaged a bronze medal behind two rampaging Japanese in men’s heptathlon at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships at the Qazaqstan Stadium in Astana where pole vaults were a significant issue.
Ubas, an eight-year internationalist, had to borrow a pole vault from a Kazakh athlete to avoid getting a DNF in the heptathlon event that classifies as a men’s competition in indoor athletics.
Ubas was off to a hot start on Day 1 last Saturday and fell short the next day but still placed third with 5,306 points in the event that features competitions in the 60 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 60 meters hurdles, pole vault and 1,000 meters.
Yuma Maruyama and Keisude Okuda booked a 1-2 Japanese finish with 5,801 and 5,497 points, respectively, to dominate the event that drew athletes from nine nations including Thailand, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, host Kazakhstan, South Korea and Tajikistan.
“I just couldn’t believe that I led after four events on the first, but the Japanese were too strong in the hurdles and 1000 meters,” the 29-year-old Misamis Oriental native told BusinessMirror through internet call on Monday.
Most significant in Ubas’s campaign was the pole vault competition where Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association secretary-general Edward Kho could borrow one from the hosts.
“Our Secretary-General [Kho] made sure that poles could be borrowed before we flew here, but it is not that easy borrowing poles not suited for you because it could result in injury,” Ubas said. “I needed to gamble, otherwise my hard work could have been wasted.”
Asian outdoor record holder Ernest John “EJ” Obiena couldn’t compete in Astana because of issues on pole vaults. No airline traveling to and from Astana carry pole vaults, which are between 13 and 14 meters long and couldn’t be folded or dismantled.
Ubas also had to fend off Suttisak Singkhon’s rally in the 1,000 meters to shove the Thai to fourth place and collect another international medal after his bronze in decathlon and long jump in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Kho said Ubas had to be stretchered off the field after the 1,000 meters due to a hurting piriformis, a flat, narrow muscle that runs from the lower spine through the butt to the top of the thighs.
“But he’s a warrior and he’s okay now,” said Kho, adding that the borrowed pole didn’t fully suit Ubas because they were “soft and bent so easily.”
Ubas’s bronze is only the second medal for the Philippines in the Asian indoor championships after Eric Cray’s bronze in the men’s 60 meters in the 2016 Doha edition. Cray withdrew from the 60 meters in Astana after straining his groin in the 400 meters last Friday.
The other Filipinos didn’t fare well in other fronts—Leonard Grospe was seventh in men with 2.14 meters, Sarah Dequinan ninth in women’s pentathlon (women’s outdoor heptathlon) and Harry Diones 10th in triple jump.
Filipino-Spanish John Cabang Tolentino was 10th in the men’s 60-meter hurdles heats and missed the final.