MANILA, Philippines — Ang proseso para sa pagbabalik-ensayo ng mga kagaya nina Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes Eumir Felix Marcial at Irish Magno ang pag-uusapan ng mga top sports officials ng bansa.
Magpupulong ngayon sina Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Ramon Fernandez, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino at Tokyo Olympics Chef De Mission Nonong Araneta ukol dito.
“We will be discussing regarding our plans of how to go about continuing the training of our Olympians,” ani Fernandez. “We have few athletes who have qualified already and there are several that has not been qualified. But as you know, wala pang schedule as to when is the next qualifying tournaments for the 2021 Olympics,” dagdag pa nito.
Maliban kina Marcial at Magno ng boxing, ang dalawa pang may tiket na sa 2021 Tokyo Olympics ay sina gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo at pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena. Nasa Pilipinas sina Marcial at Magno, habang nagsasanay si Yulo sa Japan at nasa Italy naman si Obiena.
Kamakailan ay pinayagan ng Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) ang pagbabalik-ensayo nina Marcial at Magno at ng iba pang national athletes na sasabak sa mga Olympic qualifying tournaments.
Ito ay sa kabila ng umiiral pa ring General Community Quarantine (GCQ) sa Metro Manila bunga ng coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“Magdi-discuss na kami niyan, and hopefully by the third or fourth quarter of this year baka mag-ease up na ang COVID so we might be able to go full blast on training. We are only talking about the Olympic qualifiers and those who are still going for the qualifications,” sabi ni Fernandez.
Ang iba pang tumatarget ng Olympic berth ay sina 2016 Rio de Janeiro silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz ng weightlifting, Fil-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, Nesthy Petecio ng boxing, skateboarder Margie Didal, taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez at karateka Junna Tsukii.