Olympian Mary Joy Tabal dropped by PH national team

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Rio Olympian Mary Joy Tabal has been dropped from the Philippine Team by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA).

Tabal is the first Filipina to have competed in the long distance event in the recently-held Rio Summer Olympics wherein she finished in 124th place after clocking 3:02.27.

Tabal confirmed that she received the papers from PATAFA last August 31 and that as of August 30, she was no longer part of the team.

Tabal said that she had wanted to keep the sad news to herself and her coach, John Philip Duenas, however, it came out in the open when it was posted by Philippine Sports Commissioner Ramon Fernandez on Facebook that Tabal had just been let go by PATAFA.

Tabal declined to comment on the issue except to say that she feels crushed for being dropped.

(PROFILE: Rio 2016 – Mary Joy Tabal)

“Sakit oi, as an athlete, you just want to train and give your best for yourself and represent the country. Naningkamot gud ko,” Tabal said. (It is painful, as an athlete, you just want to train and give your best for yourself and represent the country. I really tried hard.)

She added that she couldn’t understand why this keeps happening to her despite already being an Olympian.

Based on the letter from PATAFA, her reinstatement to the Philippine Team was only until August 30.

Tabal’s sponsor also confirmed the development, saying they weren’t surprised.

“Yes it is true that Mary Joy Tabal is no longer with the Philippine Team as it was agreed prior to RIO olympics that Tabal’s reinstatement is for the Olympics. We agreed, it will be discussed when she returns as  to how she will proceed with the national team. In short the letter sent was not a surprise,” said Jonel Borromeo, the president of Motorace Philippines.

Despite being released, Tabal says she is working towards qualifying for the 2020 Olympics.

“I am 100 percent dedicated to my Tokyo 2020 goal, magkina-unsa I will stick to that jud, no matter what, I will just have to find reasons to continue believing na okay ra lage ni tanan, ma okay ra.” (I am 100 percent dedicated to my Tokyo 2020 goal, whatever happens I will stick to it, I will just have to find reasons to continue believing that everything will turn out to be okay, that everything will be okay.) – Rappler.com