PATAFA Virtual Press Conference

EJ Obiena is the first Filipino to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which has been moved to July of 2021. Last week the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) held a virtual press conference with EJ.

PATAFA was led by PATAFA President Dr. Philip Juico, PATAFA Secretary-General Terry Capistrano and PATAFA Maketing Communications Director Edward Kho.

Joining the virtual press conference were sportswriters covering the PATAFA and sports journalists like myself looking for subjects, topics and issues to write about to start engagement and discussion.

When I first met the young man at the 2019 South East Asian Games here in Manila, he was a good and humble kid. He’s made a lot of sacrifices, being away from his family, training hard in Italy in preparation for the Olympics.

He answered each question fielded by the media and was very accommodating. He’s on a mission and that is to win the country’s first Olympic gold medal.

Questions were also fielded to Dr. Juico about the PATAFA budget and the athletes’ allowance. Edward Kho, who moderated the press conference, discussed the line-up of PATAFA projects from May until the end of the year, pandemic or not.

It was a good event overall, the media was given access to a world class elite athlete. Sports media was given something to talk about and write about. Look for PATAFA to organise more press conferences with other members of the athletics team.