Shooters gun for Tokyo slots

We now have two Olympic athletes in Tokyo, but we need more qualifiers.

The national shooting squad guns for elusive slots in the Tokyo Olympics when it competes in the Asian Shooting Championships from 2 to 11 November in Doha, Qatar.

The prestigious continental tourney is tipped to go down the wire after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally declared it as the last Olympic qualifying meet in Asia.

The top three finishers in the shotgun, rifle and pistol events will gain quota places and outright slots in the Summer Games in Tokyo next year.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said they are optimistic that the Filipino gunners would hit Olympic slots following the qualifications of pole vault specialist EJ Obiena and Carlos Yulo last week.

“We now have two Olympic athletes in Tokyo, but we need more qualifiers,” said Ramirez, also the chief of mission in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

“We believe we have good chances of making it in the penultimate competition of their careers — the Olympics. That’s why the PSC is very supporting to all of these exposures and competitions.”

Making it to the Olympics is nothing new for the shooters.

Hagen Topacio clinched the silver medal in the men’s individual trap event of the Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait in 2016 to bag a slot in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

But the IOC later ruled that the tourney championship was not an Olympic event after organizers refused to allow an Israeli to compete.