Philippines Squash Academy (PSA) president Robert Bachmann expressed his enthusiasm in preparing to send the country’s strongest squad in the Los Angeles Olympics.
“Everyone’s excited. This is the first time squash has been included in the Olympics and we’ve been shortlisted since 2012,” Bachmann said.
“We were almost there, but now it’s finally happening. So they’re all excited.”
The PSA even recruited former world No. 5 player Wee Wern Low of Malaysia in hopes to further enhance the team’s skills.
“She’s been training the team since March. She finished the first six months which will end on 31 August and then we’ve already renewed her for another six months,” Bachmann said.
“She’s now our head coach for the Philippine squash team so everything is under her. We’re going through international exposure with both the juniors and the senior team and building up their world ranking points as well.”
Apart from squash and baseball, the International Olympic Council announced flag football, cricket, lacrosse, and softball are the new sports included in the next Summer Games.
For Philippine Amateur Baseball Association president Chito Loyzaga, he is keeping the national team’s expectations realistic.
Loyzaga said that the national team has yet to get to the level of consistently competing with the likes of Chinese Taipei, South Korea, or Japan in the sport.
“Though it’s good to hear that baseball is in the Olympics, it’s not yet our game and the level that we are at right now, we are not yet there,” Loyzaga said.
“Unless we can recruit Filipino-foreign players that have the skills and potential like Shohei Otani, maybe we can stand a chance.”
The son of FIBA Hall of Fame Caloy Loyzaga also said he is more locked in on how the Philippines will fare at the upcoming 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan in 2026 after a fifth place finish last year in Hangzhou, China.
“A chance to qualify, yes. I’m confident our players will be able to qualify for the Asian Games. How we will perform there is another story and that could be a qualifying event for the Olympics,” Loyzaga said.