Ilang araw lamang matapos ang pagpasok ng Year of the Monkey o 2016 ay agad sasabak sa matinding pagsasanay ang mga miyembro ng Philippine Track and Field Association (PATAFA) sa paghahangad nitong makapagpadala ng mas maraming atleta sa Rio De Janiero Olympics.
Ito ang sinabi ni PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico kung saan tatlong atleta nito ang nakatakdang magtungo sa Perth, Autralia para sa tatlong buwan pagsasanay habang naghahanda iba pang atleta para sa mga qualifying events na isasagawa sa 2016.
“We have 3 athletes and a coach leaving in Perth, Australia next week to start 3-months training. They are Melvin Guarte, Edgardo Alejan at si Christopher Ulboc,” sabi ni Juico.
“Emerson John Obiena is now training in Poland under his coach Vitaly Petrov,” sabi pa ni Juico. “He has been there training since December 19 up to January 18. And then sasali siya sa UAAP starting February 17 and then sasali na siya sa Qatar to join the Asian Indoor Championships.”
'Pikon daw?' UAAP fan na nag-dirty finger, agaw-eksena sa San Juan Arena!
Nakatuon naman si Juico na irekomenda ang Olympian na si Marestella Torres bilang katapat ng nagkuwalipika na si Eric Shauwn Cray sa men’s 400m hurdles sa programa ng International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“Marestella continues her training and we will probably nominate her for the Universality principle because meron tayo na nakapag-qualified. If she qualified, then it will be better for us,” sabi pa ni Juico.
Hindi lamang nakatuon si Juico sa 2016 Rio Olympics kundi pati na rin sa susunod pa na mga lalahukang torneo.
“Lahat ito for training to the Olympics but if they failed to qualify, then they can continue their training and preparation for the 2017 SEA Games Kuala Lumpur, then Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta , then 2019 SEA Games in Manila, and in 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This is a long range program,” sabi pa nito. (ANGIE OREDO)
