NINE-year old Jemuelle James Espiritu has not missed a single day since last month for his training as he eyes another gold medal in the second leg of the Philippine Archery Cup slated on the last week of September either in Cebu, Bacolod or Dumaguete.
Espiritu is joining other archers from the Baguio Archery Club under head coach John Hongitan.
"Sana manalo ulit para madagdagan yung gold medal ko last year sa Batang Pinoy," Espiritu said. He bagged a gold medal in the yeoman category during the national slate of Batang Pinoy 2015.
The young archer is juggling his time to hone his shooting skills while also trying to excel in his studies at the Saint Louis Laboratory Elementary School.
Jemuelle with his sister Danielle were not able to join the first qualifying leg of PAC held earlier in Koronadal City due to financial constraints.
This time, the siblings are honing their skills to excel in their fields for the second qualifying rounds in the Visayas and the Luzon leg in November.
Hongitan said for the second qualifying leg, his archery club will be sending eight archers plus three para athletes.
The list include Agustina Bantiloc, Giovanni Ola and Ret. Col. Allan Campos.
Based on WAP guidelines, an archer must at least be on the top four on the conclusion of the three qualifying legs to be selected in the final leg that will be conducted in January 2017. From the qualifying rounds, an archer's two best scores will be computed in the final leg.
To be included in the final competition, an athlete should have at least participated in two of the three qualifying leagues.
The archery cup serves as a qualifying round for an athlete to join the Philippine team that will compete in the Southeast Asian Games next year.