MARATHONER Mary Joy Tabal will continue her training and preparation for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Tabal’s coach, John Philip Duenas said the Cebuana athlete still needs to improve her time even after his ward finished an impressive eighth overall in the women’s division of the 2016 Scotia Bank Marathon in Ottawa last Sunday to became the second Filipino runner to hit the Olympic qualifying standard.
“Basta tuloy yung training ni Joy for Rio,” said Duenas.
Tabal’s clocking of two hours, 43 minutes and 31 seconds, surpassed the national record which Jhoann Banayag set in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games of 2:44.2, as well as the Olympic standard of 2:45.
And because the 26-year-old Tabal was training on her own after she resigned from the national team last December, the result surprised the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association.
Duenas, however, said Tabal needs to be reinstated with the national team to be able to make it to the Olympiad.
Tabal is still in Canada, waiting for her certification from the organizers of the Ottawa Marathon, a document which she can present to the Patafa.
Tabal is set to arrive Sunday in Cebu to meet with her coach and their sponsors, and finalize their next moves.
According to the online edition of the Ottawa Citizen, Tabal was among a handful of athletes who successfully used their performances in Sunday’s race to qualify as national representatives in Rio.
Also on that list were Latvia’s Ariana Hilborn (2:40:32) and Israel’s Maor Tiyouri (2:42:22), who placed sixth and seventh in the women’s division, just ahead of Tabal.
Makorobondo Salukombo made the grade based not on his time (2:22:50), but rather on his ninth-place finish, which met Congo’s alternate requirement of a top-10 result in an International Association of Athletics Federations Gold Label event.
Mohamed Hrezi, a dual citizen of the United States and Libya, also met the time standard by placing seventh in 2:18:40, but the US squad was selected long ago—Hrezi placed 62nd in the Olympic trials race in February.
Patafa president Philip Ella Juico said the Patafa is now in the process of verifying Tabal’s time with tournament officials, and inform the International Amateur Athletic Federation of developments.
He added that Tabal needs to follow the proper process to be able to join the national contingent to the Rio Games.
The Patafa’s executive committee and executive committee will have to meet on Tabal’s status, and that of Torres-Sunang, who was recommended for the Olympics under the universality rule.
Torres-Sunang, according to Juico, is another issue.