BEYOND THE GAME 

First Meeting: Filipino Uncle and Niece at the 2025 Winter Games

By Brian Yalung

It will be a busy year for Philippines sports with several events scheduled for 2025. One of the major events that the country will be participating in is the Asian Winter Games scheduled for February 7 to 14.

The Philippines will send 20 athletes to the games, the largest contingent to date. The country will try to set another first, with Filipino athletes competing across six disciplines.

“The Winter Olympics are as tough as the Summer Games, but we have proven it can be done,” POC President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said at the beginning of the year.

Eyes on the prize

The ultimate goal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games is to win medals. Success would also mean a ticket to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics set for 2026.

Two members who have that in mind are figure skater Sofia Frank and snowboarder Adrian Tongko. It will be their first Asian Winter Games participation, a reason why both are excited for the upcoming event.

“I’ve always been wanting to represent the Philippines, like snowboarding for a long time. But because of me injuries, I haven’t been snowboarding. Now that everything is coming back to fruition, I’m really excited,” the 28-year-old Tongko stated.

Frank did not hide her excitement as well. She revealed working on her mental health and added that she is good to go for the games.

“I’m really excited to go to Harbin and compete in the Asian Winter Games. I’ve been working a lot on myself and a lot of my mental health. I think it’s been helping and I’ve been training very well so I think if I just keep on going, it will be pretty good,” the 19-year-old Frank expressed.

Unusual family reunion

Ironically, the 2025 Asian Winter Games will be a special one for Sofia and Adrian. It turns out that the two are related. Adrian is the uncle of Sofia.

Sofia shared that this will be the first time she will be meeting Adrian in person. She also added that she had no idea that they were related until very recently.

“I didn’t know that he (Adrian) was my uncle until very, very recently. It was a surprise to me but I’m super excited to finally get to meet him. He seems very nice,” the two-time Philippine national champion said.

For his part, Adrian admits that it is pretty cool to find out that Sofia was her niece. He has seen her perform and believes Sofia will do well at the Asian Winter Games.

“I haven’t met her yet. I’ve seen some of her stuff and she’s doing really well, I hope she does well in the games as well,” Adrian said.

The next couple of weeks should be interesting for Sofia and Adrian. Both admit that the excitement and pressure are building but are confident in their abilities.

Against other countries that are more seasoned in winter sports, the odds are stacked against Sofia and Adrian. But being Filipinos, both will take these on, being aware of these challenges will help bring out the best in them.