POLE vaulter Ernest John Obiena announced late Wednesday that he had a successful minor right knee surgery in Uhingen, Germany and expressed the hope of competing in the INIT Indoor Meeting in the German city of Karlsruhe on Jan. 28.
“Down but not out!!! Surgery was successful. They have cleaned the meniscus (tear) and have removed the screw on my knee from the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction back in 2017 as the bone graft has fully solidified,” Obiena posted on his official Facebook account.
“It shouldn’t affect my recovery and were (sic) still on and aiming for 28th of January competition,” added Obiena of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event that he hopes will kick off his European indoor campaign.
Aside from Obiena, Tokyo Olympic Games gold medalist Mondo Duplantis of Sweden is also listed to take part in the first gold level competition of the WA Indoor tour offering a total pot of $15,000 (around P767,242) for each core event, including the pole vault, and international ranking points.
Based on the WA continental tour regulations, the top prize is $5,000 (P255,747), $3,000 (P153,448) for second, and $2,000 for third (P102,301), with prizes awarded to the eighth-place finisher, who will get $600 (P30,690).
“I am also thankful to (PSC) Chairman Butch Ramirez for announcing yesterday (last Tuesday) that funds for my surgery is available,” Obiena said. “I may be able to use this money once available to me to reimburse the advances of good Samaritans.
“My most immediate task is to get healthy and get back on track so that I can compete again for the country. Everything else is priority number 2. Time for work to be done!!!”
Before the Tokyo Olympic Games veteran can focus on the Karlsruhe meet, he must first address the appeal of Ramirez to get into mediation to be supervised by the PSC to settle his issues with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association as soon as possible.
Ramirez said the basic matter involved liquidation of the financial support the PSC gave the Patafa, which in turn gave the money directly to Obiena for his training and competitions in the build-up for the Tokyo Olympic Games. This included the salary paid to Obiena’s Ukrainian coach, Vitaly Petrov, head of the World Athletics elite training camp in Formia, Italy, from 2018.
The Patafa fact-finding Administrative Committee claimed that Obiena had falsified his liquidation documents from May to September 2019, which allegedly included the forged signatures of Petrov that signified that he had received his salary.
Ramirez warned that unless the controversy is settled, he is inclined to withdraw the P515 million approved by Congress for the country’s participation in this year’s international meets, including the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
The PSC chief said he would return the money to the Department of Budget and Management so it could be spent for those suffering from the pandemic and the effects of typhoon Odette.
