Aspiring 10-meter Olympic air pistol shooter Carlo Valdez is being pushed by a former Philippine National Shooting Association president to compete in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from 23 September to 8 October.
No less than PNSA past president Luis “Chavit” Singson expressed his disagreement over the 22-year-old marksman’s exclusion from the national squad after placing ninth in the men’s 10-meter Olympic air pistol in the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Jakarta last February.
For comparison, skeet shooter Jake Ancheta, who will be on the national team for the Asian Games, was dead last in the 158-man of the ISSF World Cup in Lonato del Garda, Italy last July.
Singson, a former Governor of Ilocos Sur, is calling the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Congress to investigate the matter.
“We have a great young shooter in Carlo Valdez. He wasn’t chosen to play in this year’s Asian Games,” Singson said during a press conference in Pasig City last Thursday.
“Our concern was we want this investigated because this is embarrassing. If no one is called out on this, nothing will happen to our athletes. We hope the POC, the Senate and Congress will investigate this.”
“This could discourage our shooters if they think we won’t send our qualified shooters to tournaments,” he added.
Olympian Jayson Valdez leads the eight-man delegation with Hagen Alexander Topacio, Mark Joseph Gonzales, Brian Rosario, Enrique Leandro, Ancheta, Amparo Acuña and Franchette Quiroz.
Former national team member Raul Arambulo echoed Singson’s sentiments, saying a medal contender like Valdez shouldn’t be excluded from the national team after consistently topping the PNSA men’s air pistol qualifiers, especially his impressive performance last month when he emerged on top with scores of 576 in the 10-m and 558 for the free pistol 50-m events.
