Tagle, Philippine Archers handa nang sumabak

MANILA, Philippines — Handang-handa na ang Philippine national team sa kanilang pagsabak sa 2018 Asian Archery Cup 2 na sisimulan ngayon sa Rizal Memorial Baseball field.

“I’m happy that this competition is being held here. We will do our best to perform well in the Asian Cup event,” sabi ng 15-anyos na si Nicole Tagle ang pambato ng Pilipinas sa 2018 World Youth Olympics sa Buenos Aires, Argentina ngayong Oktubre.

Bukod kay Tagle, kasama rin sa national team na sasali sa Asian Cup sina Mark Javier na isa ring two-time Olympian, Florante Marton, Nicole Tagle, Karryle Hunggitan, Earl Benjamin Yap, Paul Marton Dela Cruz, Amaya Paz-Cojuangco at Jennifer Chan.

Ang pagdaraos ng Asian Cup 2 dito ay isa na ring paghahanda sa hosting ng bansa ng 30th Southeast Asian Games sa 2019, ayon kay World Archery Philippines (WAP) secretary-general Rosendo Sombrio.

“At least, we have tried testing important organizational matters in this hosting now so that by 2019 when we will host the Sea Games, we already have some important experiences in hosting the archery event,” ayon pa kay Sombrio.

Sinabi pa ni Sombrio, target din nila ang anim hanggang walong medalya sa Asian Cup, ang pinakamalaking archery international event na ginawa dito simula noong 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

“We can’t really predict as of now how many gold medals. But for sure, we can get as much as 6-8 medals in the competition,” sabi pa ni Sombrio sa press conference kamakalawa sa Orchids Hotel.

Mahigit 13 countries kabilang na ang host Phi-lippines ang sasabak sa Asian Cup 2 na isang world ranking competition kasunod ng Leg 1 sa Bangkok, Thailand noong nakaraang buwan.

Ayon pa kay Sombrio, ang ibang malakas na bansa sa kumpetisyon ay ang Australia, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Mongolia, Thailand, Chinese-Tapei at India.

“There are at least a total of 113 participants vying for supremacy in the competition,” dagdag ni Sombrio. “This is an Asian competition, so at least we can gauge in this event, our possible opponents in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia,” aniya. (FCagape)