MANILA – Swimmers Kayla Sanchez and Harold Hatch and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe joined the growing list of Filipino athletes who secured tickets to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino announced on Tuesday that Sanchez, Hatch, and Watanabe have formally earned their Summer Games slots.
“Great news, and we can even ask for more,” Tolentino said in a statement. “Each day, as the countdown to the Olympics dwindles, the morale goes higher and higher with these athletes’ qualifications.”
The Fil-Canadian Sanchez, who transferred to the Philippine federation two years ago, will swim in the women’s 100 meters freestyle while Hatch qualified for the men’s 100 butterfly.
Sanchez, who set a new national record of 54.69 seconds in the freestyle event during the Asian Games, won a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle and a bronze in the 4x100m medley with Team Canada in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Watanabe, the silver medalist in the minus-63 kg category at the 2018 Asian Games, made it through the continental qualification in women’s -63 kgs. It will be her second Olympics appearance.
With 20 athletes now confirmed, the Philippines has surpassed the 19 athletes sent to the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, where weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz secured the country’s first Olympic gold.
Already in the Summer Games are weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, John Febuar Ceniza and Elreen Ando; boxers Aira Villegas, Hergie Bacyadan, Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Felix Marcial; golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina; rower Joanie Delgaco; fencer Samantha Catantan; gymnasts Carlos Yulo, Emma Malabuyo and Levi Ruivivar; and pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena.
“But we’re expecting more,” said Tolentino. “We’re chasing more history, we’re setting the ante higher.
The POC targets is to match or surpass the one gold, two silver and one bronze medals clinched in Tokyo./PN
