ni Marivic Awitan
LIMA sa anim na Filipino fencers na nakatakdang sumabak sa Olympic Qualifying Tournament via the Asian Championship ang lalarga sa Ormoc City para sa bubble training.
Pangungunahan ni Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist Jylyn Nicanor ang grupo na magsisimulang magensayo sa Pebrero 6.
“This training camp in Ormoc City is very important for the fencers going to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament,” pahayag ni national team mentor Amat Canlas in a phone interview.
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“They didn’t have regular training for almost a year. Of course, we have our daily online, but this kind of physical training that they will have is totally different from what we’ve been doing the past months.”
Pambato ng bansa si Nicanor sa women’s saber, habang sina Chris Jester Concepcion (men’s saber), Hanniel Abella and Noelito Jose (women’s/men’s epee), at Nathaniel Perez (men’s foil) ay kabilang din sa line-up.
Kapwa nagwagi ng silver medal sa nakalipas na SEA Games sina Concepcion at Abella, habang nagwagi ng bronze si Samantha Catantan. Kasalukuyang nasa US ang 19-anyos na si Catantan bilang iskolar ng Penn State University.
Sasabak ang Pinoy fencers sa Asian Championship – isa sa qualifying meet para sa Tokyo Games – sa April 15- 22 sa Seoul, South Korea.
“They already inspected the training facility and the housing where the athletes and coaches will be staying for the next two months, and the PSC officials were satisfied with the set up,” pahayag ni Canlas, patungkol sa ‘health and safety’ protocol na inihanda ng Philippine Sports Commission.
“Aside from the Olympic qualifiers, we’ll also have their training or sparring partners. All are excited because finally they’ll have proper training again to prepare for the OQT,” aniya.
