THE Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) hopes to ride the momentum of the successful Tokyo Olympics campaign as the country’s highest sports authority aims to win more than two gold medals at the 2022 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) set from March 10 to 20 in Bangkok and Chunburi, Thailand.
POC President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said he would urge national sports associations (NSAs) whose athletes will be competing in the AIMAG to immediately start their bubble training as the country braces for four major international competitions in 2022—the Beijing Olympics in February, Hangzhou Asian Games in September and the postponed Vietnam Southeast Asian Games.
“We’ll surpass the previous AIMAG record of two gold medals, so we have to start the bubble training the soonest, maybe we’re the only country behind in training,” Tolentino, also the PhilCycling president, told BusinessMirror on Thursday.
“We’re now listing all the available sports that we know that can deliver the gold medals,” he added.
Jiu-jitsu’s Meggie Ochoa (-45 kgs) and Annie Ramirez (-55 kgs) won one gold medal each in the last AIMAG Turkmenistan hosted in Ashgabat in September 2017.
The Philippines—121 athletes competed in 17 sports—also bagged 14 silver and 14 bronze medals in Ashgabat to place 19th among 33 nations.
The POC appointed Karate Pilipinas president Ricky Lim as chef de mission to the AIMAG.
“After our successful Olympic campaign, we have to surpass our previous achievement in AIMAG,” Tolentino said. “I will invite NSAs [national sports associations] to one-on-one meetings starting next week.”
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, with boxers Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio clinching silvers and Eumir Felix Marcial bagging bronze.
There will be 290 events in 31 sports—including demonstration sports teqball (combination of football and table tennis) and drone racing—in Thailand. The sports are 3X3 basketball, badminton, billiards, BMX cycling, bowling, cheerleading, chess, floorball, futsal, dancesports, esports, roller sports, sport climbing, indoor athletics, indoor hockey, indoor rowing, ju-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, kurash, muaythai, netball, pencak silat, sambo, shooting, short course swimming, sepaktakraw, taekwondo, volleyball and wrestling.
But Tolentino clarified that the results in the AIMAG won’t be a gauge for the selection of athletes to the Hangzhou Asian Games set from September 10 to 25.
“Some countries like China and Japan are not sending their best athletes to the AIMAG, it could be their team B or farm teams,” he said.
Host Turkmenistan won the overall champion in the last AIMAG with 80 gold, 67 silver and 85 bronze medals, followed by China with 42 golds, 32 silvers and 23 bronzes and Iran with 36 golds, 23 silvers and 59 bronzes.
Tolentino, meanwhile, said the third Asian Youth Games in Shantou City, China, was moved back from its original schedule of November 20 to 28 because of Covid-19 pandemic. The new schedule according to the Olympic Council of Asia and the Shantou organizing committee will be from December 20 to 28.