MANILA, Philippines – Janry Ubas refused to let the Philippines return empty-handed from the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Kazakhstan as he bagged a bronze in the men’s heptathlon on Sunday, February 12.

Ubas collected 5,246 points in the seven-discipline event to finish behind Japan’s Yuma Maruyama and Keisuke Okuda, who went 1-2 with 5,801 and 5,497 points, respectively.

Excelling in the long jump, high jump, and pole vault, the 29-year-old shattered the national indoor record of 4,565 points set by Jesson Ramil Cid in the 2014 edition.

Ubas’ bronze is only the Philippines’ second medal in the history of the biennial meet after Eric Cray also won bronze in the men’s 60m sprint in Qatar in 2016.

The Philippines had sought to capture its first-ever gold in the continental showpiece courtesy of Asian pole vault record holder EJ Obiena, but he skipped the event due to logistical and financial issues.

Obiena, who owns a season-best clearance of 5.91m, would have dominated the competition as the gold medalist, Saudi Arabia’s Hussain Al-Hizam, hurdled just 5.45m.

Aside from Ubas, the Philippine contingent in Kazakhstan included Cray, Sarah Dequinan, Leonard Grospe, Harry Diones, and John Cabang Tolentino.