Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian applauded Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena for clinching the country’s first gold medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Saturday.
“Congratulations to EJ Obiena, . . ., one of the top Filipino athletes, for gifting the Philippines the first Gold Medal in the #HangzhouAsianGames in China & also in the process broke the Asian Games record!,” Huang posted on his Facebook account.
“Enjoyed watching the game, and it’s inspiring to witness the first Philippine track & field gold medal in the Asian Games in 30 years,” the Chinese envoy said.
Obiena, who needed just three jumps to clinch the gold medal while also resetting the Asian Games mark, established a 5.90-meter record in a single try.
Before that, he cleared 5.75 meters in his first attempt.
As Obiena’s remaining rivals failed to clear 5.75-m, that gave the Filipino athlete the Philippines first ever gold in the Asian Games.
In the process, he also broke the 5.70-m record of Japan’s Yamamoto Seito in 2018.
Obiena’s rivals included China’s Huang Bokai and Saudi Arabia’s Hussain Al Hizam, who took home the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Huang said he is “looking forward to seeing more China-Philippine bonds in diverse fields including sports excellence & glory.”
He also sent his “best wishes to China and Philippine teams of athletes to the Hangzhou Asian Games.”
