Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 8) — Olympian and Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena on Wednesday announced he will not be able to compete at the Asian Indoor Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan next week due to logistical and financial concerns.
Obiena explained that his team cannot bring his poles to Kazakhstan as “none of the airlines serving Astana will bring the poles.First, a pole vaulter without his poles is an ineffective pole vaulter. Despite huge efforts from everyone including my federation (PATAFA) and Mr. Capistrano, we are simply unable to get my poles to Astana, Kazakhstan,” he said in a statement. My mentor James Lafferty even worked with Pepsi Kazakhstan to drive the poles from Almaty to Astana. That didn’t work as it’s a 17H drive,” Obiena added. The 27-year-old athlete noted that most of his Asian competitors also pulled out for the same reason. Obiena said financial woes also hindered him from competing as his team has not yet been paid for over a year despite already resolving issues with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association. Despite all the issues of the past supposedly being resolved, my team has not been paid now in over a year. Payments are caught up in red tape,” he lamented. “Unfortunately, some of my team are now threatening to leave Team Obiena.” Who could work free for over a year? They have families to support and bills to pay. They can’t keep working for free.” ‘ ‘8’: ‘contentWidth’: ‘fit-content’ ’embedCode’: ‘