Pretty soon, long jumper Janry Ubas might find himself competing on European soil in his quest to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association secretary general Edward Kho told the DAILY TRIBUNE they are looking to have Ubas train there by March next year to join in tournaments and earn points for the Paris Games.
The qualification period will end on 30 June 2024 and Ubas could either earn enough points to qualify or hit the qualifying mark of 8.27 meters for a direct berth.
Italy-based pole vaulter EJ Obiena so far is the only Filipino trackster to earn a seat in next year’s Summer Games after hitting the qualifying mark of 5.82 meters in Sweden last July.
If the proposal gets approved by the Philippine Sports Commission, Kho said Ubas will head to Europe after the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand in March 2024.
“The plan of Patafa for Janry is to have him be in Europe, which is still subject to PSC funding. The idea is for him to play in Europe in 90 days,” Kho said.
“For now, coach Dario de Rosas and Janry are focused on the Asian Indoor Championships in Tehran and AIMAG.”
Ubas joins a handful of Filipino athletes who will train overseas once the move materializes.
Apart from Obiena, hurdler John Cabang is currently based in Spain while Filipino-American athletes Kristina Knott and Eric Cray are training in the United States.
To boost the local athletes’ chances of making it into the Olympics, Kho said they are looking into the possibility of making the Philippine National Games a World Athletics-sanctioned event.
“I would check with the Patafa secretariat if we could include the Philippine National Games this December in the World Athletics platform to get more qualifying points for the athletes,” Kho said.
