Patafa dangles Olympic ranking points

Ranking points for the Paris Olympics will be at stake when the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) stages the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships from 8 to 12 May at the Philsports Complex in Pasig City.

Patafa secretary general Jasper Tanhueco said the country’s brightest track and field stars will be seeing action after they decided to offer Olympic ranking points in the prestigious annual spectacle that will be held in Metro Manila for the first time since 2019.

So far, world No. 2 pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena is the only national team member who has yet to confirm his participation in the event as he remains at the height of his preparation for the Summer Games in his training camp in Formia, Italy.

Tanhueco, however, stressed that athletes who need Olympic ranking points like former Olympian Kristina Knott, Janry Ubas, John Cabang, Lauren Hoffman, Robyn Brown and Eric Cray will all compete for victories that will jack up their chances to see action in Paris.

After all, all of them are inside the top 36 in the World Athletics rankings and need to gather additional points to maintain their spots should they hit their respective qualifying standards.

“It’s an Olympic qualifier and it serves to give points for our Olympic hopefuls. We are looking at six hopefuls: Kristina Knott, Janry Ubas, John Cabang, Lauren Hoffman, Robyn Brown and Eric Cray,” Tanhueco said, speaking on behalf of Patafa president Terry Capistrano, during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum yesterday.

“Since they’re representing the Philippines, we want them to be present also. Like what Coach Jeoffrey Chua said, it’s also to inspire the new generation of athletes to watch and compete with their idols.”

The 35-year-old Cray, an eight-time Southeast Asian Games champion, has a handsome chance of competing in his third consecutive Summer Games as he is at No. 37 while the top 27 athletes have already qualified after hitting the Olympic standards in the men’s 400-meter hurdles.

Cabang, a Spain-based Filipino, is also expected to make it as he is at No. 36 with 1223 points in the men’s 110-meter hurdles while Hoffman is at No. 34 with 1170 points and Brown at No. 39 with 1162 points.

SEA Games gold medalist Janry Ubas is also in the world rankings in the men’s long jump with 1162 points to put him at No. 34.

Knott also looks poised to follow up her stint in the Tokyo Olympics back in 2021 as she is currently at No. 49 in the women’s 200-meter run with 1145 points.

But coming up with a strong performance will be easier said than done as more than 700 athletes from different countries will also see action in the event, similar to what happened last year in Ilagan City in Isabela.

Expected to compete are tracksters from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, New Zealand, and clubs from Guam and Japan.

All in all, Patafa is looking at around a thousand participants after the registration closes on 30 April so it is doing everything to make sure that the track oval will be world-class.

“We expect it to be more since we extended the registration until 30 April. A lot of teams requested the extension due to budget constraints,” Tanhueco said, adding that action is set from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. onwards to avoid the draining summer heat.

“We already sought support from the Philippine Sports Commission to make the oval better. We’re doing everything we can to make it look good.”