Team Pilipinas will compete in 46 of the 61 sports calendared for the 2022 Asian Games set for September 10 to 25 next year in Hangzhou, China.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said the POC submitted the list to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee last Friday.
Filipino athletes will be competing in aquatics, archery, athletics, baseball, softball, men’s basketball, men’s 3×3 basketball, boxing, canoe-kayak, and cycling MTB and BMX.
Also on Team Philippines’ list are dance sports’ breaking, men’s dragon boat, equestrian, fencing, men’s football, golf, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, judo, jiu-jitsu, kurash, karate, bridge, chess, esports, xiangqi, modern pentathlon, skateboarding, rowing and men’s rugby.
Completing the list are sailing, speak takraw, shooting, sports climbing, squash, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s beach volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, and wushu.
Tolentino, also the PhilCycling president, said it is high time for Filipino athletes to perform better in the Asian Games after the country’s two-time domination of the Southeast Asian Games.
“We submitted our list last Friday – the deadline – and we based our list on our effort to surpass our last achievement of four gold medals – in Jakarta – because we improved a lot in the SEA Games,” said Tolentino, who appointed Dr. Jose Raul Canlas of surfing as chef de mission to Hangzhou.
Canlas said groundwork for the preparation and participation in the Asian Games alteady started in earnest last week.
“We started working on the Asian Games because next year is an election year, so it’s a transition year for the PSC [Philippine Sports Commission],” said Canlas. “I’m coordinating with [PSC] Chairman William Ramirez on how we are going to go about the budget right now.”
The Philippines has won four gold medals in the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games: Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting), Margielyn Didal (skateboarding), Yuka Saso (golf, women’s individual), and Saso, Bianca Pagdanganan, and Lois Kaye Go (golf, women’s team).
The country also ga bagged two silver medals – Rogen Ladon (boxing) and Kiyomi Watanabe (judo); and 15 bronze medals – four in pencak silat, three in taekwondo, two each in boxing and wushu, and one each in cycling, jiu-jitsu, karate, and golf.
