Taekwondo, karate back Inspire training
The karate and taekwondo national associations are all set for the training bubble set up by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to fast-track the country’s preparations for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“I’m looking forward that our taekwondo athletes will be able to resume training and prepare for the Olympic qualifying tournament,” Stephen Fernandez of the Philippine Taekwondo Association told the Inquirer late Sunday.
National athletes from combat sports who have either already qualified for the Olympics or are close to qualifying will be the first ones allowed in the bubble at Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna province in January.
And for Karate Pilipinas president Ricky Lim, it will be a culmination of a long wait.
“Actually we are one of the first who asked for that (bubble training) and we were supposed to go in at Inspire Sports Academy on Dec. 1, but we were not able to get clearance from the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases),” Lim told the Inquirer on Sunday. “We really need face-to-face training because we will join tournaments next month and our qualifying will be in June.”
“We will bring six athletes inside the bubble,” Lim added.
The national boxing federation is also ready for the bubble but all of its national athletes are still in the provinces, including Irish Magno, who has already qualified for Tokyo, and wild card hopeful Nesthy Petecio.
Tokyo qualifier Eumir Marcial, meanwhile, wants to set up camp in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile PSC Chair William Ramirez hopes that the coaching system in the country, especially in the grassroots, will be standardized.
“A coach who has a bachelor’s degree in physical education and has studied human movement, physiology and anatomy can understand the development of a young child whose muscles are growing,’’ Ramirez said. INQ
