Gymnast Malabuyo, rower Nievarez eye Paris berths in separate qualifiers
GYMNAST Emma Malabuyo targets an Olympic berth on Wednesday in Doha while Cris Nievarez tries to return to the games in a rowing qualifier this weekend in South Korea.
The two athletes—and about two dozen others—are still in contention for the Paris Olympics where at least 13 Filipino athletes have already made the grade.
“Emma is very, very good and has a strong chance of qualifying for the Paris Olympics,” Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion told Businessmirror from Doha on Tuesday. “If she gets a medal, she’s in and no need for her to wait for the Asian championships in May.”
Malabuyo tries to become the third Filipino gymnast after former world champion Carlos Yulo and Aleah Finnegan as she competes in the final leg of the International Gymnastics Federation 16th Artistic World Cup that starts Wednesday at the Women’s Sports Committee Hall at the Aspire Zone in Doha.
Malabuyo, 21 and a senior elite gymnast at University of California, Los Angeles, clinched silver in floor exercise in series’ second leg in Cairo.
An alternate in Tokyo, Malabuyo must finish in the top two to make it to Paris.
Levi Jung-ruvivar is also in Doha to compete in the uneven bars and balance beam, where she’s ranked fifth in the world.
“We still need to wait until the Asian championships to know her chances,” said Carrion on Jung-ruvivar.
The Asian championships are set May 24 to 26 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Nievarez eyes second straight Olympics
TOKYO Olympian Cris Nievarez and three others are seeing action in the World Rowing Asian and Oceania Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta and Asian Rowing Cup this weekend in Chungju, South Korea.
The 24-year-old Nievarez told Businessmirror on Tuesday that he needs to reach the Final A of men’s singles sculls to have a strong chance of returning to the Olympics.
“There are many participants in today’s Olympic qualifiers than in Tokyo, but anything can happen,” said Nievarez by internet call during a break in training at the banks of Tangeum Lake in Chungju.
“It’s challenging on our part, but I’m better physically and emotionally so we’re all ready and prepared,” said Nievarez, who finished eighth in the same event at the Hangzhou 19th Asian Games last September.
With the Atimonan (Quezon) native who calls the La Mesa Dam Eco Park under the Philippine Rowing Association headed by Patrick Gregorio are Joanie Delgaco and Rynjie Peñaredondo and Zuriel Sumintac.
Delgaco will see action in women’s singles sculls while Peñaredondo and Sumintac will be competing in men’s doubles light sculls with all three also hoping to qualify for Paris.
They are coached by Uzbekistan’s Shukrat Ganiev and Edgardo Macabitas Maerina.
Thirteen Filipinos are technically qualifies for the Paris Olympics—pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena, boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, weightlifters Vanessa Sarno, Erleen Ann Ando and John Febuar Ceniza, and gymnasts Carlos Yulo and Aleah Finnegan, as well as weightlifter Rosegie Ramos and two swimmers and a female track and field athlete under the universality rule.