Pole vaulter EJ Obiena (File photo)
MANILA – The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) stands by its decision to investigate how pole vaulter EJ Obiena has been paying his coach, Vitaly Petrov, for his services.
In a statement on Monday, PATAFA said the probe was based on a statement Petrov submitted to them backed up by a signed affidavit from one of his former prized wards, current Ukraine Olympic Committee president Sergey Bubka.
On Sunday, Obiena called for a press conference denying PATAFA's allegations that he has failed to pay Petrov up.
Petrov himself even showed up in the press conference confirming that he has already received his salary in full.
However, PATAFA claimed that the payment came in late.
"Obiena has reported to PATAFA that he had turned over Petrov's salary from May 2018 to August 2021 on time. Records, however, revealed that Obiena had settled obligations with Petrov only recently this month and not during the months that he had officially reported having paid his coach's salary," PATAFA statement read.
The contrasting claims of how Obiena paid Petrov led to PATAFA's probe.
PATAFA has asked Obiena to return 85,000 euros (about PHP4.8 million) worth of alleged unpaid salaries to Petrov.
However, Obiena hit back at PATAFA and claimed that there is a "character assassination" on him and that Petrov never submitted a statement at all.
"This is a fraud, pure and simple," Obiena said.
He then asked PATAFA to publicly apologize for the said incident or else he might consider "immediate retirement" at age 26. (PNA)
