The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is sending a lean and mean team to the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships scheduled on Feb. 10 to 12 in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan.
World-class pole vaulter EJ Obiena and Olympian sprinters Eric Cray and Kristina Knott will banner the 17-player squad in the tournament that would serve as their first foreign exposure for the year.
Also part of the crew are Southeast Asian Games shotput champion William Morrison, pole vaulter Natalie Uy and long jumper Janry Ubas, Leonard Gorospe (high jump), Mark Harry Diones (triple jump), Mariano Masano (800 meters), John Cabang (men’s 60m hurdles), Jelly Paragile and Melissa Escoton (women’s 60m hurdles), Sarah Dequinan and Alexei Caimoso (pentathlon), Michael Del Prado (men’s 400m) and Hokett Delos Santos (pole vault).
Edward Giron will join Cray, Masano and Del Prado in 4x400m relay.
PATAFA secretary general Edward Kho said this is the earliest international competition available with the highest possible World Athletics points to be gained for the athletes.
The association also selected athletes who have the highest chances of winning medals, noting that it is an Asian-level competition.
It will be a busy calendar year for national athletes as they gear up for three major competitions namely the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May, the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September, and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand in November.
The Kazakhstan tilt will serve as one of the team’s training grounds for these three major events.
The PH athletics team won five golds, seven silver and 14 bronze medals at the previous SEAG in Vietnam, while also hoping to make it to the medal podium at the Asian Games for the first time since Elma Muros won in the 1994 edition in Japan.