POC pushes for more Olympic-bound athletes

MANILA, Philippines - POC first vice president Joey Romasanta said the other day he’s optimistic that the Philippines will send anywhere between eight to 12 athletes to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next year through either competition or invitation with the POC promising to support National Sports Associations (NSAs) in the hunt for qualifiers.

Romasanta, the country’s chef de mission in the coming Olympics, said POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. has assigned four overseers to look after NSAs that are battling for Rio slots. POC chairman Tom Carrasco of triathlon is in charge of canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, golf, triathlon and rugby while Romy Magat of tennis is on top of athletics, judo, shooting, table tennis, tennis and weightlifting. Bettina Pou of gymnastics is checking on aquatics, archery, boxing, gymnastics and taekwondo. Remy Birondo of Cojuangco’s staff is tracking badminton, basketball, rowing, sailing and wrestling.

“The four POC representatives are monitoring the progress of the NSAs assigned to them in relation to their drive to qualify athletes for Rio,” said Romasanta. “They’re addressing what the NSAs need. From the NSAs point of view, they know the point person whom to run to for whatever reason.”

Romasanta said PSC chairman Richie Garcia’s conservative estimate of eight athletes is just about right at the moment. “But of course, we’re hoping to send more than eight,” he said. “We sent 15 to Beijing and 11 to London. The IOC wants to broaden the participation of countries to the Olympics but to make it widespread, the concentration is on countries that historically don’t send more than eight athletes. Countries like Nepal and Bhutan, for instance, will be given priority for invitation tickets.”

Romasanta said the IOC will also prioritize athletes who are Olympic Solidarity scholars for invitations. “The idea behind the Olympic Solidarity program is to identify potential Olympic athletes and get them ready for the Olympics,” said Romasanta. “The IOC’s goal is to make every Olympics exciting and record-breaking with as many countries participating as possible so that the coverage is truly world-wide. At the moment, the Philippines has 12 Olympic Solidarity scholars from six sports so I’m hopeful that if they don’t qualify outright for Rio, some of them will at least be invited to participate.”

The 12 Filipino Olympic Solidarity scholars are Christian Al de la Cruz, Kirstie Alora, Kristopher Uy and Thomas Morrison of taekwondo, Amparo Acuna and Hagen Topacio of shooting, Clare Legaspi and Princess Superal of golf, Hermie Macaranas of canoeing, Jasmine Alkhaldi of swimming and Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno of boxing. Morrison was a recent addition to the roster, replacing the injured John Paul Lizardo.

Aside from qualifying outright for Olympic slots, the other way to make it to Rio is by invitation from the IOC tripartite commission. The commission is made up of a representative from the IOC, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the pertinent international sports federation.

Romasanta said the IOC tripartite commission has a list of criteria to guide the selection of athletes to be invited to Rio. “The IOC has a data base of all athletes from around the world with their rankings and accomplishments,” said Romasanta. “From that list, the commission will take note of the athletes who failed to qualify but nearly made it. It will also look at the roster of Olympic Solidarity scholars and the priority countries to be invited. On top of all those considerations, there are quotas imposed by a sport and by region. Take boxing, for instance. From what I know, there will be at least three invitees, two men and one female. In golf, there will also be three invitees.”

Romasanta said entries by name must be finalized for the Rio Olympics by July 18 as the opening is set on July 24.

“The qualifying process is still ongoing,” said Romasanta. “So far, the Philippines has qualified only one athlete, Eric Cray in the 400-meter hurdles. Hagen Topacio would’ve also qualified in shooting but the IOC has cancelled the sanction of the qualifying event in Kuwait because of the organizers’ refusal to grant a visa to an Israeli participant. In weightlifting, we’re optimistic of Hidilyn Diaz’s chances of qualifying. She’s gone down from 58 kilograms to 53 and I think she’s more competitive at the lower weight division. We could also qualify athletes in BMX cycling through Danny Caluag and Sienna Fines, judo through Kiyomi Watanabe, boxing and taekwondo aside from the usual two slots each for swimming and athletics. While Danny is the Asian Games BMX gold medalist, I’m not sure if he’s accumulated enough international points but he’s trying to make it. Sienna, a Fil-Am who’s only 17, has better chances to qualify at this stage.”

Romasanta said National Golf Association of the Philippines president Caloy Coscolluela is pushing for the qualification of three Filipino parbusters who are ranked in the Olympic top 60. “The golf cut-off for selection is July 11,” he said. “Only the golfers in the Olympic top 60 will be considered. Fortunately, we’ve got two males, Angelo Que and Tony Lascuna, and one female, Jennifer Rosales, in the top 60.”