Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino is optimistic the country can maintain or surpass its previous performance in the Asian Games when the 19th edition fires off in September in Hangzhou, China.
Tolentino cited the Filipino athletes’ strong showing over the past years particularly in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Hanoi Southeast Asian Games.
“Mabigat, pero marami naman tayong inaasahang atleta dito,” Tolentino said, noting the absence of golfers Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan, who won two of the country’s four gold medals at the 2018 edition in Indonesia.
Saso, who won the individual and team gold with Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go, changed her citizenship to Japanese, while Pagdanganan turned pro in 2020.
Tolentino mentioned the country still has world-class pole vaulter EJ Obiena, Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo to anchor the squad in maintaining or eclipsing last edition’s four-gold, two-silver, and 15-bronze medal haul.
“Malalagpasan pa naman natin yang previous records natin,” Tolentino said.
He is also leaning to Filipino boxers as the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) is expected to field its best bets as the Asian Games serves as one of the qualifiers to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the 2018 Asian Games, PH boxers went home with one silver courtesy of Rogen Ladon and two bronzes from Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial.