TWO Filipinas—one involved in individual combat sport and the other in team sport—have set their goals high following their recognition as the best in their fields during the 2019 San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night last Friday at a hotel in Manila.
Jack Danielle Aminam, a member of the gold medal winning women’s basketball team in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, is bound for Taiwan as an import in a school-based league that kicks off in July.
For Pauline Lopez, a taekwondo gold medalist also in the SEA Games, is focused on nailing a berth to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and is not relaxing her legs as she prepares for the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan in April.
“I’m training hard for the Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan this April,” said the No. 3 ranked SEA Games champion in women’s featherweight.
“The training is hard and my body hurts all the time. We train three times a day, every day. On weekends, we have active rests,” Lopez said. “It’s a sacrifice to achieve our goals and dreams.”
The 23-year-old Lopez must make the semifinals of her weight class to advance to Tokyo 2020.
“We only have one chance, whoever gets the gold and silver will get that ticket to Tokyo,” she said.
Besides Lopez, also seeking a
return to the Olympics is Rio 2016 campaigner Kristine Alora.
The others are Kurt Barbosa (finweight) and Arven Alcantara (featherweight),
who clinched gold and silver, respectively, in the SEA Games.
The Asian taekwondo qualifiers were supposed to be held in Wuhan, the source of the corona virus.
The 21-year-old Filipino-American Aminam, who is playing out of National University, will play for Shih Hsin University in Taiwan.
Aminam was feted as Ms. Basketball for her strong performance not only for NU but most especially for the national women’s team that scored breakthrough wins in the SEA Games.
The five-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) champion said a coach from Taiwan saw her potentials and asked her to play for the university.
“There are a lot of women who play good basketball, but I hope we have an avenue to continue to display our talents,” said the 6-foot-2 Aminam, who also hoisted the MVP trophy in the UAAP.
Aminam is also focused on playing 3×3, aside from the traditional 5×5 game.
“We have 3×3 games that are lined up. And then, personally, I want to try to play abroad,” she said. The women’s basketball team went 3-0 won-lost in the SEA Games, capping its gold medal run with a 91-71 rout of Thailand in the championship match. Aminam was instrumental in that win, along with the gold medal clinching campaign in 3×3.