The Philippine Taekwondo Association admitted that it wasn’t able to make necessary adjustments that led to their failed campaign in the Asian Qualifying Tournament in Tai’an City, China over the weekend.
PTA director Stephen Fernandez told Daily Tribune that having the event as the lone qualifier for the Paris Olympics has put some pressure on their performance.
“Going into this competition wasn’t easy as this is the last window and all athletes who participated wanted those tickets to Paris,” Fernandez, whose federation will not be sending a representative to the Summer Games for the first time since the London Olympics in 2012, said.
“All I can say is our players lost and weren’t able to adjust right away but I will not take anything away from them.”
“They might have fallen short of the objective but they will live to fight another day.”
None from the four-man delegation booked a spot in the Paris Olympics after failing to make it to the final of their respective weight divisions.
Tokyo Games veteran Kurt Barbosa fell short of a return bid after losing to Samirkhon Ababakirov of Kazakhstan in the semifinal of the men’s -58-kilogram division while Baby Jessica Canabal also fell in the women’s -57-kg semifinal after losing to Laetitia Aoun of Lebanon.
Also failing to make the Olympic grade is Arven Alcantara, who lost to Ali Reza Abbasi of Afghanistan in the quarterfinal of men’s -68-kilogram while Tachiana Keizha Mangin also botched her bid in the women’s -57 kg after fading in the semifinals against Saudi Arabian Dunya Abutaleb.
Fernandez, however, remains positive, hoping to see the Filipino jins get stronger for the next Olympic qualifiers in 2028.
“Tachiana is very promising. She’s only 17 years old and she was able to make it to the semifinal on her first Olympic qualifier. I believe Arven is set to retire and Kurt can still compete for a few more years along with Jessica,” Fernandez said.
