By Jerome Lagunzad
PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico said the national team members, led by marathoner Mary Joy Tabal, are “in the phase we’re we want them to be” ahead of the Asiad spectacle to be co-hosted by Jakarta and Palembang from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2 next year.
Juico, 70, said all medalists in the country’s five-gold, three-silver, 10-bronze showing in the Kuala Lumpur Games last August are cinch to make it to the PH team for the continent’s biggest sporting meet.
But their readiness for the Asiad will be tested when Tabal, double gold medalist Trenten Beram, hurdle specialist Eric Cray, and decathlon star Aries Toledo see action in the 8th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran, Iran in February.
“We’re sending around 10 athletes there, all of them potential Asian Games medalists,” said Juico. “Then a week after that, may pre-Asian Games track competitions in Jakarta. Basically, there are around 11 or 12 events in Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe where we will be sending our men and our women too.”
Juico added that plans are also in place for national team members to undergo a specialized training in either Nagasaki Japan or in Hong Kong.
In addition, the National Athletics Open, pitting the country’s current and potential national team members, will be held at the end of April in Isabela anew, giving Juico and the coaching staff more time to assess the Asian Games-bound PH team.
“That is part of the ongoing tryouts. ‘Pag may tumalo sa’yo during the National Open, then we’ll have to reconsider. Tapos mayroon rin performance trials, time trials a month before the Asian Games,” he said.