64 Philippines bets chasing Olympic dreams

MANILA, Philippines — Amidst threat of cancellation of the Tokyo Games, around 60 Filipino athletes are pursuing their Olympic dreams.

Nonong Araneta, the country’s chef de mission to the Games, said he expects about 20 more athletes to qualify and join world champion gymnast Caloy Yulo, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena and boxer Eumir Felix Marcial in the Tokyo meet.

“If we’re going to be confident, we expect 16 to 20 athletes to make it to Tokyo apart from the three who have already qualified,” said Araneta in a press conference yesterday attended by Philippine Olympic Committee secretary-general Ed Gastanes and Philippine Sports Commission chief of staff Marc Velasco.

Araneta said there are 64 athletes from 19 sports who are vying for Tokyo tickets.

Of the aspirants, weightlifter and 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, BMX’s Daniel Caluag, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, golfers Yuka Saso, Dottie Ardina and Miguel Tabuena, and skateboarder Margie Didal are those with realistic chance to make the cut.

The country is also assured of at least two more slots from swimming and one (for female) from centerpiece athletics due to the universality rule.

Other sports targeting a Tokyo trip are taekwondo, archery, 3x3 basketball, canoe-kayak, fencing, table tennis, karate, rowing, wrestling and triathlon.

Velasco, meanwhile, said the PSC board chaired by William “Butch” Ramirez has approved sending national athletes to their respective qualifiers way ahead of time to prevent potential problems.

“The PSC board talked about this possibility because there are countries who implement quarantines on athletes arriving from certain countries with COVID-19 alert,” said Velasco.

There are already Olympic qualifiers that were postponed or cancelled entirely due to the health issue including weightlifting’s Asian Championship in Kazakhstan where Diaz was to compete.

“We’ll now be sending Hidilyn to Mauritius, the final Olympic qualifier for weightlifting,” said Velasco. “We’re racing against time because the event is next week”.