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Sunday, September 18, 2005
RP archers eye 5 gilts
By Frank C. Calapre
MANILA – It’s a combination of youth and experience for the RP archery team, which is eyeing at least five golds in the forthcoming 23rd Southeast Asian Games on Nov. 27 to Dec. 5.
Spearheading the country’s quest for gold are 20-year-old Athens Olympics quarterfinalist Jasmine Figueroa and veterans Joan Tabanag and Jennifer Chan.
National Archery Association of the Philippines (Naap) secretary general Ligaya Manalang yesterday said the team’s final line-up was made a day after the qualifying tournament conducted on Sept. 9-11 in Subic, site of the SEA Games archery competition.
Best bet
Manalang expressed confidence the squad – which also includes Amaya Pas, Abegail Tinduyan, Rachel Cabral, Florante Matan, Mark Javier, Marvin Cordero, Christian Codilla, Carlos Carag, Raul Arambolo, Gil Gabriel and Adan Jimenez – is capable of winning five of eight golds at stake in the event.
Sander Angeles and Ericson Ferdinand are listed as alternates for the Recurve Men’s team.
The Naap cited Figueroa, the first Filipino to reach the quarterfinals in the 2004 Olympiad, as the country’s best hope for gold along with Pas, who ranked No.8 in the World Archery Championships in Madrid early this year.
Re-evaluation
Veterans Joy Marino, Barbara Chua and Edwin de los Reyes have to undergo another re-evaluation because of their poor performances during the qualifying competition, according to Manalang.
“It seems that the three were not taking the qualifying tournament seriously. We don’t want that kind of attitude so we want to conduct a re-evaluation test on them anytime this month,” said Manalang.
In case the three flunk the test, the RP Women’s team losses the prospect of winning the four-player Recurve team gold as it will leave only the youthful Figueroa and Cabral in the squad.
Figueroa said she is sure of getting the gold in the individual event, but the team gold would still depend on the composition of the Recurve team.
“I’m more prepared now than I was during the Athens Olympics. I was the only Southeast Asian in the quarterfinals so I think I have better chances now than the rest in the field,” said Figueroa.
(September 18, 2005 issue)
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