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MANILA, Philippines – If things go according to plan, the Philippines will have its biggest Olympic delegation in over three decades.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino on Friday, April 12, said the target is to qualify 25 athletes to Paris as the county celebrates its 100th year of participation in the Summer Games.
The last time more than 20 athletes represented the Philippines in a single Olympics came in the 1992 Barcelona Games, where 26 Filipinos – including boxing bronze medalist Roel Velasco – competed.
Chances are, Tolentino said, the Philippines will exceed the 19-man team it sent to Tokyo in 2021, with nine Filipinos already assured of Olympic berths three months before Paris opens hostilities in July.
“Momentum is there. They’re inspired,” said Tolentino in Filipino.
Pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnasts Carlos Yulo and Aleah Finnegan, boxers Eumir Marcial, Nesthy Petecio, and Aira Villegas, and weightlifters Elreen Ando, Vanessa Sarno, and John Ceniza have booked their tickets to Paris.
A fourth weightlifter, Rosegie Ramos, aims to reach Paris as she waits for the International Weightlifting Federation to release the final qualification ranking in May.
Ramos is currently a spot outside the top 10 qualification cutoff in her women’s 49kg class.
The Philippines is also guaranteed three more Olympic berths – one in athletics and two in swimming – through the universality rule if no one meets the standard qualifying times.
Swimmers Kayla Sanchez and Jarrod Hatch were identified by the POC as the top candidates to obtain the universality places for Paris.
Other potential qualifiers include Bianca Pagdanganan (golf), Emma Malabuyo (gymnastics), Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo), Rogen Ladon, Carlo Paalam, Hergie Bacyadan, and Criztian Pitt Laurente (boxing), and Cris Nievarez and Joanie Delgaco (rowing).
Pagdanganan is well inside the top 60 of eligible female golfers who will qualify for Paris, Malabuyo can clinch her Paris spot through the FIG World Cup Series, while Barbosa hopes to nail a reallocation spot after falling short of an outright berth in the World Taekwondo Asian Qualification Tournament.
Ladon, Paalam, Bacyadan, and Laurente get one last shot at Paris in the second World Qualification Tournament in May in Bangkok, Thailand, while Nievarez and Delgaco compete in the World Rowing Asian and Oceanian Continental Qualification Regatta in Chungju, South Korea, this April.
Also in the running for Paris are Robyn Brown, Lauren Hoffman, Kristina Knott, John Tolentino, Janry Ubas, and Eric Cray (athletics), Jericho Francisco (skateboarding), Patrick Coo and Shagne Yao (cycling), Franchette Quiroz (shooting), Kiyomi Watanabe, Keisei Nakano, and Shugen Nakano (judo), and Samantha Catantan, Noelito Jose, Hanniel Abella, and Nathaniel Perez (fencing).
Olympic-bound Filipinos will get a chance to adjust to France as the POC will hold a month-long training camp in Metz – about two hours east of Paris by train – starting on June 22. – Rappler.com
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