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Filipino athletes competing for the Tokyo Olympics will resume training for the first week of January, following approval from the Interagency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases last month.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Ramón Fernández said the athletes will keep their preparations inside a bubble mounted at the state-of-the-art INSPIRE Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
“The bubble training that we are going to do will start this week, the first week of January, to really prepare for the Tokyo Olympics,“Said the big cage to Power And Play, presented by Noli Eala on Saturday.
The team for the Olympics made a big impact when Japan and the International Olympic Committee decided to postpone the world’s most prestigious event to one year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has insisted that the Games take place. But there are those who remain skeptical, especially now that a new strain of the virus has been reported.
Fernández is fully aware of what has been happening regarding the crisis and understands where the concern is coming from. But nonetheless, he hopes for the best and ultimately the match continues.
“Of course, we hope that it is fulfilled. But again, we are faced with what they might say: the second wave of the virus, which is the UK strain. Then that will pose another problem.
“I hope that the World Health Organization and the different countries affected by it can really bend that increase again. Hope a hindi pumasok dito sa atin ‘yan “ Fernández advanced.
So far, four Filipinos have qualified for the Tokyo Games: gymnast Caloy Yulo, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, and boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno.
Others, meanwhile, are looking for a place in the qualifying tournaments.
Gilas 3 × 3 and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz are in the mix, as are golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso. There’s also judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and around six karateka like Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim, to name a few.
Yulo, Watanabe, and Saso have already established a camp in Japan, while Diaz is in Malaysia. Marcial is training in the United States, while Obiena will return to Europe.
Fernández hopes the Philippines can send about 15 athletes to the Games scheduled to take place from July 23 to August. 8.
“We really hope and pray that the representatives reach at least fifteen.”
