PATAFA is recommending EJ Obiena to be taken out of the national team.
THE Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) strikes back at EJ Obiena after it dropped the ace pole vaulter from the national team.
The recommendation allegedly came based on the results of PATAFA’s investigation on the Olympian over falsified liquidation documents and late payments to his coach.
Last November, PATAFA accused Obiena of embezzling funds that were used for his training.
The organization submitted documents that prove that Obiena has falsified his liquidations that he submitted to the federation for his financial assistance.
Around 6,000 euros or approximately PHP360,000 was the amount accused to Obiena from his coaching fee funds from May-August 2018.
The investigative team recommended that Obiena be dropped from the federation’s National Training Pool of Athletes “effective immediately.”
It was said that the board approved of this recommendation last December 29.
This also includes his pole vault coach Vitaly Petrov.
What does this mean for the world ranked No. 6?
What being in the National Team brings to an athlete is participation in major tournaments which are endorsed by their mother federation, which in his case is the PATAFA.This includes the Olympics, Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, and Asian Games.
Even with his rift with PATAFA, the Philippine Olympic Committee has poured its support for the Tokyo Olympian.
“We’ll fight for EJ,” POC president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said via a statement on Tuesday.
“We in the POC will make sure EJ will be in Hanoi (host of the Southeast Asian Games this year) and Huangzhou (host of the Asian Games this year) and in all other major world competitions.”
“In the absence of an endorsement from a national federation, the organizer [or] host owns a prerogative to allow embattled athlete/s—the IOC allows refugee athletes to compete in major international competitions [including Olympics],” Tolentino said in his statement.
Tags: #sports, #PATAFA, #Obiena