PRIMING the athlete who can be a potential successor to Filipino pole vault star Ernest John Obiena, Hokett delos Santos was sent to the elite World Athletics training camp in Formia, Italy by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association to undergo one-month training under famed Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov.
“Hokett has been in Formia since June 16 and will stay there for a month for training together with national coach Emerson Obiena under coach Bubka,” said Patafa secretary general Edward Kho. “We need someone to succeed EJ since he won’t be around forever.”
It is a huge opportunity for the 20-year-old pride of Ilagan, Isabela, who was discovered by the elder Obiena in one of his training camps in Ilagan, which has been regular venue for the staging of the Patafa’s National Open, now known as the Philippine Athletics Championships.
Delos Santos, who was named by his father after the popular high-scoring Ginebra import Michael Hackett in the eighties, will be trained by no less than the personal coach of Obiena as well as former Olympic and world champion Sergey Bubka.
“Hokett needs to improve on his technique and this is also the reason why we are not sending him to the Asian athletic championships. But make no mistake, like EJ, who thrived under Bubka’s coaching, the sky is the limit for Hokett,” Kho noted.
The Asian meet has been moved back from Pattaya to Bangkok, Thailand and will open tomorrow at the Supachalasai National Stadium, according to Kho.
Delos Santos failed to compete in the last Cambodia Southeast Asian Games, yielding his spot to Filipino-American Elijah Cole in their faceoff in the last Philippine Athletics Championships in Ilagan last March, jumping five meters to the former’s 5.05 meters.
A sophomore student at UST, Delos Santos, who has a personal best of 5.10 meters, had a calf strain during the meet and was unable to give his best.
