Janry Ubas eclipses PH indoor mark, wins bronze in Asian tilt

Philippine bet Janry Ubas scored 5,246 points enroute to the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Kazakhstan last Sunday, Feb. 12.

His point tally erases the national indoor record of 4,565 held by Jesson Ramil Cid in the 2014 Asian Championships. This is only the second medal for the country in the 19-year history of the Asian Indoors after Eric Cray also bagged the bronze the 60m in 2016 in Doha, Qatar.

Ubas’ bronze came behind the Japanese pair of Yuma Maruyama (5,801 points) and Keisuke Okuda (5,497 points) who grabbed the gold and silver medals respectively in the said event.

The 29-year-old native of Misamis Oriental tallied the lone medal by the lean Philippine team in the aforementioned meet which brought together such athletic powerhouses as Japan, China, Korea, India and Iran.

During the same meet, Ubas also set a new Philippine mark in the long jump registering a distance of 7.66 in the event. Teammate and compatriot Leonard Grospe also made an impressive debut in the Asian continental athletics stage with a new Philippine indoor record of 2.15m.

It was on the final round, seemingly unfazed by Olympic-caliber competitors, that Grospe successfully cleared the said height.

PATAFA President Terry Capistrano extended his congratulations to Ubas and the whole Philippine contingent saying, “This is a good note for Philippine athletics as Janry outscored the best the region has to offer.”

“He put up a brave stand and showcased the Filipino’s fighting heart in the final event, the 1000 meter run despite an injury enabling him to secure points necessary to capture a podium finish,” Capistrano added

The Philippine Athletics team’s participation was fully supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and CEL Logistics, Inc.