Manny Lopez holds out hopes Philippines will get more Olympic slots

MANILA, Philippines – The country will qualify more athletes for the London Olympics.

Olympic chief of mission Manny Lopez Friday made that vow as he buckled down to work to make sure the country is well represented in the Games slated July 27 to Aug. 12.

So far, Lopez said, the country has five sure slots in the Games—Mark Anthony Barriga, who qualified in boxing, and two mandatory representatives each in athletics and swimming, the two centerpiece events that require maximum participation, qualified or not.

“There are two ways to make the Olympics,” said Lopez. “One is by merit, the other through [so-called] tripartite invitation places (TIP). As much as possible, we want to qualify by merit.”

The Philippines still has chances to field athletes in boxing, shooting, weightlifting, judo and wrestling which all have scheduled Olympic qualifying events.

Lopez said the country is no longer qualified to field entries through TIP because only the countries which have six or fewer athletes in the past two Summer Games are eligible for it.

“In Athens and Beijing we had 15 and 16 athletes,” said Lopez.