By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The country is fielding 160 athletes in the 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Thailand scheduled March 10 to 20, 2022 in Bangkok and Chonburi, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Bambol Tolentino announced yesterday.
“The objective is to ride the momentum of the Tokyo Olympics success,” Tolentino said, adding that the athletes will compete in 21 of the 31 sports.
Tolentino also said the goal is to eclipse last edition’s two-gold medal haul in Turkmenistan in 2017 courtesy of jiu-jitsu fighters Meggie Ochoa and Annie Ramirez.
The PH team, composed of 105 athletes who vied in 17 of 21 sports, also went home with 14 silver and 14 bronze medals.
Among the silver medal winners were Tokyo Olympics champion Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting, sprinter Eric Cray and billiards players Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit.
Notable bronze winners in the previous edition also include taekwondo jin Olympian Elaine Alora, weightlifter Kristel Macrohon, and the women’s rapid U23 team of Woman Grandmaster Janelle Frayna and Women FIDE Master Shania Mendoza, to name a few.
For the 2022 edition, the PH team will compete in aquatics, 3×3 basketball, billiards, bowling, chess, dancesport, esports, indoor athletics, indoor rowing, jiu-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, kurash, muay, pencak silat, sambo, sepak takraw, shooting, skateboarding, taekwondo and wrestling.
The multisport tournament was originally scheduled last May 21 to 30, but organizers pushed it to a later date due to the pandemic.
