PH wrestlers bound for Morocco, Bulgaria to train for Tokyo Olympics qualifiers

By Nick Giongco

Wrestling chief Alvin Aguilar is upbeat about the chances of sending qualifiers to the Tokyo Olympics since he is dispatching the crème dela crème of his sport to Morocco and Bulgaria in the next few months.

Greco-Roman practitioners Jason Baucas (72 kg.) and Noel Norada (63 kg.), gold medalists in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, and freestyler Alvin Lobrequito (57 kg.), are actually bound for the Russian city of Yakutsk, 450 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, to train for the Olympic qualifying events.

In the Olympic qualifiers, Lobreguito will remain at 57 kg while Baucas will campaign in the 77 kg. division and Norada in the 67 kg. class, said the Bralizian jiu-jutsu-trained Aguilar, who is the proponent of mix-martial arts in the country.

“The wrestlers are flying out for Russia next week for training camp and they’ll go straight to Morocco (for the Africa-Oceania Qualifying) and return to Russia to train again to get ready for Bulgaria (for the World Qualifying),” said Aguilar.

The Morocco grapplefest is scheduled March 13-15 in El Jadida while the Bulgarian event in the capital of Sofia takes the spotlight from April 30-May 3.

To prepare the team for the Olympic quest, Aguilar attended the two meetings called by Tokyo Olympics chief of mission Nonong Araneta and the Philippine Sports Commission the past three weeks.

“So far, there is no problem with funding,” said Aguilar, who will tag along coaches Melchor Tumasis and Jimmy Angana to Russia, Morocco and Bulgaria.

In the last SEAG, two golds were won by wrestling apart from ten silver medals while powerhouse Vietnam muscled its way to a 12-gold romp.

Last time the Philippines competed in Olympic wrestling was during the 1988 edition in Seoul.

Source: Manila Bulletin