11th Asian Age Group tourney to serve as Paris Olympic qualifier

MANILA – The 11th Asian Age Group Championships (AAGC) scheduled to be held at the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac from Feb. 26 to March 9 will serve as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics.

The AAGC organizers, led by Philippine Aquatics, Inc. secretary-general Rep. Eric Buhain, announced the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) conference hall inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex on Tuesday.

“Just two days ago, it has been declared that the 11th Asian Age Group Championships is an Olympic Qualifying event for Paris,” said Local Organizing Committee president and CEO Joseph “Jojit” Alcazar, who joined COO Dave Carter and Buhain in the weekly session presented by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, PLDT/Smart, and ArenaPlus, the leading sports entertainment gateway in the Philippines.

About 1,300 athletes from 31 countries are expected to join the tournament, which features four disciplines: swimming (Feb. 26-29), diving (Feb. 26-March 1), artistic swimming (March 2-6), and water polo (March 3-9).

Competitions are in the 12-14, 15-17, and 18-and-above age categories. Buhain clarified though that only the swimming event is the Olympic qualifier.

“World-class swimmers will be coming over and do their best to make the qualifying times for Paris. It’s a big opportunity for us to host and see these swimmers. We rarely see this caliber of athletes in the field of aquatics coming to our country,” said Buhain, a former chairman of the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and the PSC.

The organizers see a possible surge in the number of entries and countries participating leading to the event after the decision to make the event an Olympic qualifier. /