Best Pinoy jins seek Olympic berths in world meet

The Philippine Taekwondo Association will field its best team in the first of two Olympic qualifiers – the World Championships – hoping to send four of its bets to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

"Of course, we’re sending our best team but we have to qualify first before we start thinking of giving the country its first ever Olympic gold," said taekwondo chief and Philippine Olympic Committee chair Robert Aventajado.

The world tilt is set May in Beijing, China while the other Olympic qualifier will be held in September.

Only four spots are allowed per country with the PTA seeking to qualify in all four (two men and two women) after only three Filipinos – Toni Rivero, Tshomlee Go and Donald Geisler – made it to the 2004 Athens Games.

"We’ll have a better chance in the Olympics if we can maximize all our chances," said national team coach Stephen Fernandez.

He added that the RP coaching staff will decide composition of the 12-man team next week.

"We’ll decide next week on who will be included in the team going to the World Championships," said Fernandez.

The PTA also hopes to come up with a 16-man squad bound for the 2007 Bangkok Southeast Asian Games in December as it tries to match its four-gold medal haul in the 2005 Manila Games.

The Philippines actually snared five gold medals but was stripped of one when Esther Singson was tested positive for banned substances and was suspended for a year.

Singson was reinstated early this year and is eager regain her spot in the RP team. – Joey Villar