It’s winning time! Obiena, Yulo, Paalam intensify medal hunt

The big guns of Philippine sports — Ernest John Obiena, Carlos Yulo and Carlo Paalam — plunge into action to make their presence felt and, hopefully, put an end to the country’s week-long quest for an elusive medal in the Paris Olympics.

First to march to battle in the seventh day of hostilities will be Obiena, who will be competing against a galaxy of stars in the men’s pole vault event at the Stade de France at 4:10 p.m. (Manila time).

Concerns were raised when the 28-year-old pride of Manila admitted that he wasn’t in perfect shape in the days leading to the Summer Games.

In a social media post, Obiena stressed that an “injury” is hampering his training and greatly affecting his mental and emotional states while he and his Ukrainian coach, Vitaly Petrov, were already in the process of applying finishing touches on his preparation in Normandy.

But shortly upon his arrival at the Athletes Village on Wednesday, Obiena declared that he is fit, healthy and ready to compete.

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano said there’s nothing to worry about. After all, Obiena is guided by a competitive medical team led by Italian physiotherapist Antonio Guglietta with noted sports surgeon Dr. Raul Canlas, who is also a member of the Philippine Olympic Committee board.

“He’s handling it properly and it’s being attended to. He should be okay,” said Capistrano, referring to the back injury that has been slowing down the Filipino superstar in the past couple of months.

“He has a physician with him, an Italian osteopath who’s also part of the team. And Dr. Raul Canlas is also here.”

“Whatever it is, as far as I know, it’s manageable.”

Still, whether he’s healthy or not, advancing to the final round set on 5 August — Tuesday — at 1 a.m. (Manila time) will not be easy.

Obiena will be testing his mettle against a star-studded field bannered by reigning champion and world record-holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Christopher Nilsen of the United States, and Rio de Janeiro Olympics bronze medalist Sam Kendricks also of the United States.

Three French stars in Thibaut Collet, Robin Emig, and Anthony Ammirati are also in the starting list, giving the expected massive home crowd somebody to cheer for.

Obiena, however, is marching to battle with fire in his eyes after a forgettable 5.70-meter performance for an 11th-place finish in Tokyo three years ago. But the ghost of Tokyo had already been slain as the Filipino titan had already blossomed into one of the best vaulters in the world with a personal-best of 6.0 meters.

In fact, Obiena has grown so confident that he was convinced that he can eventually upset Duplantis, who has an incredible personal-best of 6.23 meters, if he keeps on sharpening his game.

Capistrano, however, stressed that landing on the medal podium is “easier said than done.”

“It’s easier said than done. Anyone among the top 10 can podium and the only one ahead of the pack is Duplantis,” the athletics chief said.

“But at the end of the day, we must remember that EJ is world No. 2. That’s the sum of what he has been doing the past 12 to 18 months. Yun ang suma total.”

Capistrano added that the most important thing for them is to get past the preliminaries.

“So, he should be ready,” he said.

“Tomorrow, he will compete and get to the finals. We don’t want to talk about August 5 yet.”

But the first medal that the Filipinos have been looking for since making that memorable boat ride along the enchanting Seine River exactly seven days ago could be drawn from the 20,000-seater Bercy Arena, where the gymnastics competitions are being held.

The 24-year-old Yulo will be competing in the final of the men’s floor exercise event at 9:30 p.m. (Manila time) oozing with optimism.

Aside from being the champion in the floor exercise event of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany in 2019, Yulo had also posted a very encouraging result in the preliminaries after finishing second with 14.766 points, just a heartbeat away from the leader in Filipino-British star Jake Jarman, who scored 14.966.

Aside from Jarman, Yulo has to contend against reigning Olympic champion Artem Dolgopyat of Israel, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Raydeyler Zapata of Spain, and Zao Ruoteng of China, who already pocketed a silver medal in the team event and a bronze medal in the all-around event on Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of good athletes competing in floor (exercise). I have to match their execution and intensity. So I’m just focusing on my mindset, on my performance during the competition,” Yulo said in a television interview.

Should Yulo miss the podium in the floor exercise, he still has another chance when he competes in the final of the vault apparatus on Sunday at 10:24 p.m. (Manila time).

“I feel okay in vault,” Yulo added.

“But I feel that I still have something to improve (in vault) so I will focus on my training and try to replicate my previous success during the competition.”

Meanwhile, Paalam, a silver medalist in the Tokyo Games, will be gunning for a bronze medal when he faces Charlie Senior of Australia in the quarterfinals of the men’s 57-kilogram class.

It will not be an easy battle for the 5-foot-4 fighting pride of Bukidnon in his 9:46 p.m. (Manila time) battle as Senior is way taller at 5-foot-10 and is coming in as the reigning champion of the Pacific Games.

Should Paalam survive Senior, he will be on a collision course in the semifinals with the top seed Abdumalik Khalokov, the skilled and dangerous Uzbek who dominated him in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.

And if he shocks Khalokov, Paalam will fight either second seed Javier Ibanez Diaz of Bulgaria or third seed Jahmal Harvey of the United States for the gold medal.

It’s a tough road, but Paalam is hardly threatened.

“All of the boxers here are prepared so I will do my best in every match,” said Paalam, who had beaten Senior in several sparring matches in their training camp in Metz last month.