The national team started on the wrong foot after Hussein Loraña missed the final of the men’s 800-meter event of the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships on Friday at the Tuanbo Sports Centre Athletic Arena in Tianjin, China.

Loraña, a gold medalist in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand last December, fell short in clinching one of the top two spots in Heat 1 after clocking one minute and 50.74 seconds.

Ma Zhongquiang of China outpaced Loraña for the last finals slot with a time of 1:49.05 while Ochiai Ko of Japan tallied 1:48.71 to top Heat 1.

The 25-year-old Loraña was the first casualty in the four-man Filipino delegation that included SEA Games bronze medalist Leonard Grospe of high jump, Paris Olympian John Cabang of hurdles and Asian Games gold medalist record holder Ernest John Obien of pole vault.

Cabang and Obiena will be the country’s best bets after setting new SEA Games records in their respective events.

The 24-year-old Cabang clocked 13.66 seconds in the men’s 110m hurdles while the 30-year-old Obiena cleared 5.70m en route to retaining his SEA Games title.

Grospe is vying for the gold medal in the men’s high jump at press time.

Cabang, on the other hand, will aim for a spot in the men’s 60m hurdles final on Saturday at 10:25 a.m. (Manila time) at the same venue.

If ever he gets lucky and makes the cut, the Spain-based Cabang will vie for the gold on Sunday at 8:25 p.m.

At 6:35 p.m. on Sunday, Obiena will be in the pole vault final, where he faces 2023 Asian Games silver medalist and home bet Huang Bokai of China and bronze medalist Hussain Asim Al Hizam of Saudi Arabia, who also trains under Ukrainian mentor Vitaly Petrov.

Patsapong Amsam-Ang of Thailand will be challenging Obiena for the gold after pushing each other to the limit in the SEA Games before bowing to the Filipino via countback.