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NATIONAL
diving head coach Zhang Dehu has one lofty goal for the
two Filipino divers heading into the 2008 Beijing
Olympics—reach the finals.
“My goal
is for our athletes to enter the finals at the
Olympics,” Zhang said in a report by international
wires.
“That is
my hope. It is a very daring plan as the Philippines is
a small country. And it was not very long ago that it
started diving,” added Zhang, a Chinese coach tasked to
mentor Sheila Mae Perez and Rexel Ryan Fabriga.
Diving
in the country only started to rise when Fabriga won a
gold in the 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, a first
for the country in international competitions.
Zhang
has high hopes on Perez, who won three gold medals in
the 2005 SEA Games in the Philippines. “Today, Sheila is
the best female diver in Southeast Asia,” said Zhang in
Mandarin.
Zhang, a
former diver himself when he was young, believes that
the Filipinos have a potential to be world-class. But
lack of financial help for the sport has hindered
progress.
“There’s
so much talent and potential here but they need to be
motivated to do more,” Zhang said.
Meanwhile, only two medical personnel will accompany
Filipino athletes to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
They are
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) medical committee
head Dr. Martin Camara and Dr. Alex Pineda of the
Philippine Center for Sports Medicine.
“We have
wanted more personnel but we have limited slots for the
Olympics,” said POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco
Jr. in a radio interview.
Cojuangco said Camara has started checking on the
Filipino Olympians who are in the country at the
moment.
“Some of
them have minor injuries but I was assured by the
doctors that it will not affect their performance in the
Olympics,” said Cojuangco. |
