NATIONAL Olympic committee and cycling federation presidents (from left) Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, David Lappartient of France and Raja Sapta Oktohari of Indonesia exchange notes during the UCI Congress in Zurich.
PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino laid the ground work for the country’s active return to track cycling during the International Cycling Union (UCI) 193rd Congress during the weekend in Zurich.
A brand-new UCI-standard indoor 250-meter velodrome is on the rise in Tagaytay City and is expected to be operational early in the second quarter of 2025 and negotiations with the UCI, including with the international federation’s president, David Lappartient, has started in earnest.
“The UCI provides support to all its member nations and I’m glad that with the velodrome in Tagaytay City, the Philippines could kickstart its return to active track cycling,” said Tolentino, who is also the president of the national sports association for cycling, PhilCycling.
The support, Tolentino said, would come through the UCI’s Solidarity and Emerging Countries Commission and Program.
Tolentino also established deeper links between the UCI and Southeast Asia, particularly with his Indonesian counterpart, Raja Sapta Oktohari.
Tolentino, Oktohari and Lappartient are presidents of their respective national Olympic committees and cycling federations, with Lappartient announcing his candidacy to become the next president of the International Olympic Committee to replace Thomas Bach, who’s bound to retire.
“The opportunities to continuously link PhilCycling not only with the UCI but with the rest of the world were present on the congress floor,” said Tolentino, who told an interview with TV2 Euro that the POC is fully behind Lappartient’s candidacy in the IOC.
The Philippines has a special part in the career of Lappartient, who as a young international commissaire for road and track, was part of the panel that supervised the 1995 Asian cycling championships at the Amoranto Velodrome and Subic.
Tolentino also told the UCI that the Philippines has escalated its international campaign in road that started with a full-complement (men and women) team to the Asian championships in Kazakhstan last June and a six-rider team to the Le Tour de Langkawi which flagged off Sunday in Malaysia.
ONE of the most ideal ways to immortalize the historic achievements of Filipino athletes not only from those in the last two Summer Olympics is through a sports museum inside a stand-alone Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) headquarters.
“We’ve participated in the Olympics for a century, but up to now, the POC still needs to have its own home,” POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino told The Agenda media forum hosted by Siegfred Mison at the Club Filipino in San Juan on Friday.
“My vision about the House of POC includes a museum where the memorabilia of our great athletes, including those of Caloy [Carlos Yulo] and Hidilyn [Diaz-Naranjo], could be viewed by Filipinos,” he said.
Tolentino started advocating for a House of POC after weightlifter Diaz-Naranjo won the country’s first Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020 (2021) where boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam also got silvers and Eumir Felix Marcia bagged bronze.
He sought Malacañang’s help then for the project which he recommended to be within the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex, but his request was shelved.
“It would be ideal for the House of POC to be close to the airport for accessibility of foreign sports dignitaries who will come for official functions or for a visit,” he said.
Tolentino said he already aired his request to President Ferdinand R. Marcos during the welcome dinner for the Filipino Olympians from Paris led by double gold medalist gymnast Carlos Yulo on Tuesday night in Malacañang.
“The President was receptive to the proposal and I’m hopeful our vision would be realized this time,” he said.
The POC, for the longest time since the country started participating in the Olympics in 1924 in Paris, doesn’t have its own permanent office or headquarters.
“Call it pathetic but after a hundred years in the Olympics, we still don’t have a house of our own,” he said.
“Timor Leste, the smallest among Southeast Asian countries, in fact, has a national Olympic committee headquarters complete with all amenities … the works.”
By amenities, Tolentino meant a museum, multi-purpose hall, office rooms, gym and even a laboratory.
The POC has held a small office at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex for decades before transferring to the PhilSports Complex (formerly Ultra) which is controlled by the Department of Education.
“Many don’t even know that there’s a POC office at the DepEd complex in Pasig,” Tolentino said.
PARIS—A job well done as Filipino athletes do excel on the global stage against the elite and that there are opportunities to accomplish more with an aggressive program aimed toward Los Angeles 2028.
“We’re the best performer in Southeast Asian and No. 7 in Asia,” Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Sunday just hours before the closing ceremony for the Paris Olympics. “We wanted more but with two gold and two bronze medals, should we ask for more from Paris?”
Carlos Yulo’s gold medals on floor exercise and vault of gymnastics and boxers Nesthy Petecio and Aiza Villegas’s bronze medals put the Philippines in a share of 35th place with Hong-Kong China in the medals race.
China was No. 1 as of noon on Sunday with 39 golds, Japan was fourth with 18, South Korea seventh with 13, then Uzbekistan (eight) at No. 13, Iran (three) at No. 22 and Chinese Taipei (two golds with five bronzes) at No. 33.
The Philippines was No. 1 among countries competing in the SEA Games with its closest pursuer Indonesia also winning two gold medals but only had a bronze in badminton.
Kazakhstan, an Asian Games powerhouse, surprisingly only has one gold medal in judo.
“We’ve gone quality in Paris—in gymnastics, a blue-chip sport,” Tolentino said. “And looking at the SEA Games countries, we outperformed out closest neighbors.”
Indonesia was a notch below the Philippines in the overall tally with a gold medals in sports climbing and weightlifting, but only has one bronze in badminton.
Thailand, a perennial SEA Games champion,could only go 1-3-2 with its taekwondo gold, while Malaysia lost its best gold medal hope when Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified in men’s keirin of cycling and will have to settle with two badminton bronze medals.
Singapore lost its sting in the pool and will go home with a sailing bronze medal.
PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino celebrates Carlos Yulo’s gold medal at the Olympic Family seating. POC Media
PARIS — Carlos Yulo’s gold medal in floor exercise of gymnastics has validated some more what Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino called as the template for producing a Filipino Olympic and world champion.
“Caloy has again proven that a Filipino can win in the Olympics with the right ingredients and formula and through the proper process,” said Tolentino on Sunday, hours before Yulo was to target a second gold medal in men’s vault where he’s the favorite to win from his world championships title in 2022.
“Gone are the anecdotal ways of training athletes for the global stage,” he said. “Today, you have a platoon of coaches on your team, plus years on the production line.”
It took Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo four Olympics and the right formula or template to win gold in Tokyo—she had a main or head coach, an assistant coach, a strength and conditioning coach, nutritionist, physiotherapist and psychologist.
From an innocent wildcard in Beijing 2008, Diaz-Naranjo had to endure a “No Lift” in London 2012 and got stronger four years later with her silver in Rio.
She was ripe for the gold in the pandemic delayed Tokyo 2020.
“Caloy, basically, went through all of that, and both Caloy and Hidilyn have the scars of battle in numerous international competitions,” Tolentino said. “This is the tried and tested formula for Olympic success.”
PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino with former pro boxing champion GennadiyGennadyevich Golovkin, or Triple G, at the Athletes Village.
NESTHY PETECIO and Carlo Paalam will be in the forefront as flag-bearers of a 16-member Philippine representation in the never-done-before opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on Friday.
“We’ll be a proud and hopeful 16-strong Team Philippines in the opening ceremony,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino from Paris who won’t be joining the parade of countries and will be sitting in the Olympic Family section on a bank along the Seine River.
Joining the two boxing silver medalists at Tokyo 2020 are their fellow boxers Aira Villegas and Hergie Bacyadan, hurdlers Lauren Hoffman and John Cabang Tolentino, swimmers Kayla Sanchez and Jarrod Hatch, gymnast Aleah Finnegan and fencer Samantha Catantan.
Chef de Mission Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla and sports officials Michael Angelo Vargas (swimming), Marcus Manalo (boxing), Cynthia Carrion Norton (gymnastics), Patrick Gregorio (rowing) and Agapito “Terry” Capistrano (athletics) will also be on the boat assigned for the Philippines in the lavish ceremony that start at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. in Manila).
Tolentino said that boxer Eumir Felix Marcial, gymnast Carlos Yulo and rower Joanie Delgaco will open their campaign on Saturday and won’t be joining the parade as well as pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena, who wanted to focus more in his pre-games preps in Normandy.
The three weightlifters— Vanessa Sarno, John Febuar Cenizaand Erleen Ann Ando— have yet to conclude their training in Metz and are due at the Olympic Village on August 6, according to Tolentino.
“The schedule of our Olympian athletes have been meticulously crafted by their coaches so there won’t be hitches as they approach their competition days,” said Tolentino, who made the rounds of the Athletes Village after arriving in Paris on Wednesday and got to meet former multiple pro boxing champion Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin, or Triple G, who’s part of the Kazakhstan boxing team.
Completing the 22-athlete Team Philippines are gymnasts Emma Malabuyo and Levi Ruivivar, golfers Bianca Pagdanganand Dottie Ardina and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe.
The Paris Games organizers describe the opening ceremony as “bold, original and unique” that for the first time in Olympichistory, the opening cwill not take place in a stadium but on the Seine River.
The organizers said that parade of athletes will cover 6 kms on the Seine with boats for each national delegation—the boats will be equipped with cameras to allow television and online viewers to see the athletes up close.
IT’S 18 and still counting for the Philippines’ 100th year participation in the Olympics with swimmers Kayla Sanchez and Harold Hatch and judoka Kiyomi Watanade making the grade for Paris.
And the roster could increase to 20 pending the International Golf Federation’s (IGF) official announcement of the Paris qualifiers which, to date, has Bianca Pagdanganan at No. 35 and Dottie Ardina at No. 55 in the top 60 cut off for the Olympics.
“Great news, and we can even ask for more,” said Philippine Olympic Committtee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino from Metz, France, where he’s overseeing the pre-Paris training camp at La Moselle with chef de mission Jonvic Remulla.
“Each day, as the countdown to the Olympics dwindles, the morale goes higher and higher,” Tolentino added.
Sanchez, who switched nationality from Canada only two years ago, will swim in the women’s 100 meters freestyle while Hatch qualified for the men’s 100 butterfly.
Watanabe, on the other hand, will be in her second consecutive Olympics after making through the continental qualification route in women’s -63 kgs.
At 20 athletes, the Philippines already surpassed Tokyo 2020 where Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo won the country’s first Olympic gold medal.
“But we’re expecting more,” said Tolentino as he awaits an official announcement from World Athletics on who will join world No. 2 men’s pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena in Paris.
David Nepomuceno ran the men’s 100 and 200 meters in the Philippines’ Olympic debut in Paris 1924 and participated in every Olympics after that—interrupted only by the boycott of Moscow 1980.
“We’re chasing more history, we’re setting the ante higher,” said Tolentino, whose target is to match or surpass the one gold, two silver and one bronze medals clinched in Tokyo.
The other Filipino qualifies for Paris are weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, John Febuar Ceniza and Elreen Ando; boxers Aira Villegas, Hergie Bacyadan, Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Felix Marcial; rower Joanie Delgaco; fencer Samantha Catantan; and gymnasts Carlos Yulo, Emma Malabuyo and Levi Ruivivar.
THE number of Filipino athletes qualifying for Paris is rising and so is the buildup of excitement as the country braces for its 100th year of participation in the Olympics.
“Eleven, formally, and counting,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino on Sunday, a day after gymnast Levi Jung-Ruivivar and rower Joanie Delgaco officially became the 10th and 11th Filipino Paris Olympian in a little over a 24-hour span.
Jung-Ruivivar qualified on Friday night at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Doha where she grabbed a silver medal and enough qualification points to become the third Filipino gymnast to vie in Paris after Carlos Yulo and Aleah Finnegan.
On Sunday morning, Delgaco finished fifth in the 2,000 meters of women’s single sculls at the World Rowing Asian and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta and Asian Rowing Cup in Chungju, South Korea, enough to earn a ticket to Paris.
“Congratulations to our new qualified Olympians,” Tolentino also said in his official Facebook page, noting that Delgaco is the first Filipina rower to qualify for the Olympics.
“Their dedication, perseverance and exceptional talent are an inspiration to us all.”
“The POC extends its heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for continued success as they compete in Paris 2024,” Tolentino said. “The entire Philippines stands behind you.”
Both Jung-Ruivivar and Delgaco are surprise packages in the Olympic qualifiers under a hundred days before the Paris Olympics.
Weightlifter Rosegie Ramos is unofficially the 12th Filipino to qualify for Paris pending the International Weightlifting Federation’s official announcement of the roster for the Games.
The country is also guaranteed three qualifiers—one in athletics and two in swimming—under the universality rule making the Filipino Olympian count unofficially at 15.
“We expect more of our athletes to be in Paris as the qualifiers in various sports are still being conducted,” Tolentino said.
Also qualified for Paris are pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena, boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas and weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, Erleen Ann Ando and John Febuar Ceniza.
MANILA — The crisis at the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) is finally over with the election of members of the federation’s board of trustees as prescribed by the International Federation (ITF) through the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has been set for December 11 at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.
POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino expressed relief over the resolution of the Philta crisis which started on December 3, 2020 when the ITF suspended the national sports association. (NSA).
The ITF suspension was borne out of what the world governing body deemed as the Philta’s board of trustees (BOT) having an “exclusive membership” and not a regional representation.
As a result, the ITF sought the POC to create an ad hoc body to oversee operations of the Philta while revising the NSA’s charter that hinges on a membership bordering on a genuine nationwide representation.
The ITF put its imprimatur recently on the NSA’s amended by-laws through its senior legal counsel Hannah McLean and Thomas Needham with the election of the new members of the board of trustees specifically set before the year ends.
“It’s a crisis that dragged on for years and we are glad that the ITF has commented on the amended by-laws and gave the Philta a path back to recognition,” Tolentino said.
POC deputy head of legal Atty. Billy Sumagui and NSA caretaker Ramon “Tats” Suzara led the amendment of the by-laws that now require the Philta BOT to have 13 members from geographic sectors consisting of the country’s various regions.
The amended by-laws were based on the original 1955 and revised 2020 Philta by-laws, ITF constitution, Hongkong Tennis Association by-laws, The Rule of Tennis and the Philippine Corporate Law.
(ai/mnm)
FILIPINO athletes vying in two major multi-sport continental competitions that were either canceled or postponed have no choice but to reboot, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Sunday.
The Association of National Olympic Committees, or ANOC, to which the POC is a member, canceled the World Beach Games set for August 5 to 15 in Bali after the Indonesian government pulled the budget from the 14-sport games only last July 4.
And on Saturday, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) set for November 17 to 26 in Bangkok and Chonburi were moved to February 24 to March 8 next year.
The OCA, which held its elections also on Saturday in Bangkok with Kuwaiti Sheikh Talal Fahad Al-Sabah winning as president by only four votes (24-20), said the AIMAG was also canceled because of budget concerns and that Thailand is transitioning to a new government administration.
“These are beyond our control. I understand the sentiments of our athletes but this is something that we don’t have a choice about,” Tolentino said. “But as athletes, I trust them to make the adjustments.”
According to Tolentino, Many Filipino athletes who’re supposed to be in Bali or AIMAG are also on the delegation to the Hangzhou Asian Games set for September 23 to October 8.
“They can totally focus on the Asian Games, the biggest competition in Asia,” he said.
Two Filipino surfers—Jay-R Esquivel and Aping Agudo—have so far made the grade for the second edition of the World Beach Games.
They gained qualification via the world championships in El Salvador last month.
“We’ve been working so hard in the past few weeks [in San Jose, La Union] and then we found out that the event was canceled,” Esquivel said. “We’re all sad and disappointed but there’s nothing we can do.”
The ANOC has yet to announce a new host and dates for the World Beach Games, the second global sports event after the FIFA Under-20 World Cup that Indonesia dropped at the 11th hour. (ai/mnm)