THE PHILIPPINES will field in its biggest delegation to the Asian Winter Games set next month in Harbin, China with hopes of setting the stage for accomplishing in the Winter Olympics what the country did in the last two Summer Olympics where it snared a total of three gold medals.
“We’ve already accomplished the dream in the Summer Olympics — three gold medals in consecutive games,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham Tolentino, referring to feats by of lifter Hidilyn Diaz, who struck gold in Tokyo four years ago, and gymnast Carlos Yulo, who snared a pair of mints in Paris last year.
“And that dream we want to also achieve in the Winter Olympics,” he added.
Although the POC has no official record of the nation’s participation in the quadrennial meet, which will be now on its ninth edition, the Tagaytay City mayor and PhilCycling chief believes the 20-strong squad they are fielding should be the most ever.
“And our athletes are competing in six of the 11 sports on the Harbin program,” he said.
Mr. Tolentino said he hopes the Harbin meet will start the Filipino athletes’ dream of also claiming a gold in the Winter Games, slated for Feb. 6 to 22 next year in Italy.
“The Winter Olympics are as extremely tough as the Summer Olympics, but we have proven that it could be done,” Mr. Tolentino said.
The team will be composed of curling’s Marc Angelo Pfister, Enrico Gabriel Pfister, Christian Patrick Haller, Alan Beat Frei, Jessica Pfister, Benjo Delarmente, Kathleen Dubberstein, Leilani Dubberstein, Sheila Mariano and Anne Marie Bonache, figure skating’s Paolo Borromeo, Aleksandr Korovin, Cathryn Limketkai, Isabella Marie Gamez and Sofia Lexi Jacqueline Frank, alpine skiing’s Francis Ceccarelli and Talullah Proulx, freestyle skiing’s Laetaz Amihan Rab, short track speed skating’s Peter Joseph Groseclose and snowboarding’s Adrian Tongco.
Richard Lim is the chief of mission. — Joey Villar