LONG JUMP CHAMPION. A file photo of Janry Ubas performing in a local tournament. Ubas won the gold medal in the 2023 Cel Logistics, Inc. Weekly Relay Series Finals at the Philsports track and field stadium in Pasig City on Saturday (Oct. 28, 2023). (Contributed photo)
MANILA – Southeast Asian (SEA) Games long jump champion Janry Ubas lived up to expectations and claimed victory in the 2023 Cel Logistics, Inc. Weekly Relay Series Finals at the Philsports track and field stadium in Pasig City on Saturday.
The 29-year-old jumper registered 7.75 meters to prevail over 2023 ROTC Games triple-gold medalist Kent Francis Jardin of Adamson University (6.77m) and Leonard Grospe of Mapua (6.66m).
"'Yung panalo ko, it's a sign na magkakaroon ako ng magandang performance this coming Philippine National Games sa December. Kasi kahit na may nararamdaman akong back pain ngayon, nakapag-perform pa rin ako (My victory is a sign that I will have a good performance this coming Philippine National Games [PNG] in December. Even though I feel pain in my back today, I was still able to perform),” said Ubas, who was born and raised in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental province.
"Off-season namin after ng Asian Games tapos ngayon, kababalik lang namin sa training para paghandaan ang PNG. Tuloy-tuloy na preparation ko sa Year 2024 (We had an off-season after the Asian Games and now, we have just returned to training to prepare for PNG. I will continue to prepare for Year 2024)," the world's No. 48 long jumper added.
At the Cambodia SEA Games in May, Ubas leapt 7.85m to capture the individual long jump gold and registered a personal best of 8.08m in the same event in decathlon where he placed second to Thailand's Sutthisak Singkhon.
The protégé of national coach Dario de Rosas pocketed the heptathlon bronze medal at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championship in Kazakhstan. He also won the long jump gold medal at the 16th Triveneto Meeting Internationale in Trieste, Italy and the Motonet Grand Prix in Lappeenranta, Finland.
At the Hangzhou Asian Games, Ubas finished seventh (7.80) behind China's Jianan Wang (8.22), India's Murali Sreeshankar (8.19), China's Yuhai Shi (8.10), Uzbekistan's Anvar Anvarov (8.01), Chinese Taipei's Yu-
Tang Lin (7.91), and Hong Kong's Ming Tai Chan (7.83).
Meanwhile, heptathlon queen Sarah Dequinan posted 5.72m to rule the women's long jump event in the weekly relay series organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) headed by Terry Capistrano.
Trexie dela Torre of La Salle secured the silver medal in 5.54m while Angelyn Ortiz of FEU (5.53m) settled for the bronze medal.
Other winners were NU's Tyronne Exequiel Flores and UST's Jamela de Asis (shot put); UST's Hockett delos Santos and La Salle's Abcd Agamanos (60m hurdles); National Team's Anfernee Lopeña and Jessel Lumapas (200m); UE's Vincent Vianmar dela Cruz (5,000m walk); and Mapua's Ritchie Estampador and NU's Jessa Mae Roda (3,000m steeplechase). (PNA)
