Kayla Sanchez and Harold Hatch Watanabe are going to the Olympic Games in Paris

SWIMMERS Kayla Sanchez and Harold Hatch, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and female golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina have added their names to the Philippine team for the Paris Olympics, bringing the country’s delegation to 20.

Pagdanganan and Ardina were the latest additions after the International Golf Federation (IGF) released the final roster of the 60 golfers who will compete in Paris early today.

“Great news, and we can even ask for more,” said Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, from Metz, France, where he and chef de mission Jonvic Remulla are overseeing the pre-Paris training camp in La Moselle.

“Every day, as the countdown to the Olympics winds down, morale goes higher and higher,” Tolentino added.

Sanchez, who switched Canadian citizenship just two years ago, will swim in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, while Hatch qualifies for the men’s 100-meter butterfly.

Watanabe, on the other hand, will be competing in her second consecutive Olympics after completing the continental qualification route in the women’s -63kg category.

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Pagdanganan will also compete in her second Olympics after competing in Tokyo in 2021, while Ardina will play in her first, although she qualified to compete in the Rio Olympics but declined for fear of contagion from an outbreak of the Zika virus in that country prior to the start of the Games. .

With 20 athletes, the Philippines surpassed Tokyo 2020, where Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo won the country’s first Olympic gold medal. There were 19 Filipinos at the Tokyo Games.

“But we expect more,” Tolentino said as he awaits an official announcement from World Athletics on who will join the world’s No. 2 pole vaulter, Ernest John “EJ” Obiena, in Paris.

PHOTO: Jerome Ascano

David Nepomuceno ran the men’s 100 and 200 meters in the Philippines’ Olympic debut in Paris in 1924 and the country has competed in every Olympic Games since – only interrupted by the 1980 boycott of Moscow. So this year will be the 100th year of his Olympic participation. .

“We’re chasing more history, we’re raising the bar,” said Tolentino, whose goal is to match or surpass Tokyo’s medal tally of one gold, two silver and one bronze.

The other Filipino qualifiers for Paris are weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, John Febuar Ceniza and Elreen Ando; boxers Aira Villegas, Hergie Bacyadan, Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Felix Marcial; rower Joanie Delgaco; fencer Samantha Catantan; and gymnasts Carlos Yulo, Emma Malabuyo and Levi Ruivivar.

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