University of Cebu’s Samantha Gem Limos (left) and Olympian Mary Joy Tabal lead the lighting of urn during the opening of the 21st Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals at the Cebu City Sports Center. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Cebuana Olympian Mary Joy Tabal’s corporate backer explained that her stint in the national team was good only for the duration of the Rio Olympics.
“Yes it’s true that Joy Tabal is no longer with the Philippine team as it was agreed prior to Rio Olympics that Tabal’s reinstatement is for the Olympics.
We agreed it will be discussed when she returned as to how she will proceed with the national team. In short, the letter was not a surprise,” Motorace Philippines President Jonel Borromeo said.
He said the main objective of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) was to send Tabal to Rio de Janeiro to compete for the women’s marathon. The 27-year-old Cebuana placed 124th in the Olympics with a time of three hours, two minutes and 27 seconds.
“She had to be reinstated to be able to join the Olympics. And because our objective was to send Tabal, we agreed that on her return, we will discuss this due to several reasons. One of the major reasons would be her training location and training ingredient’s format,” Borromeo said.
Borromeo said he hopes that Tabal and Patafa will sit down and thresh out their differences so she can be reinstated to the Philippine team in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I am sure that she will be reinstated again once we sit and discuss. It’s a matter of weighing all the options that is best for the athlete,” Borromeo said.
Motorace Philippines sponsored Tabal’s races abroad, including her training in Japan and the race where Tabal qualified for the Olympics in Ottawa, Canada, earlier this year.
Tabal confirmed her removal from the Philippine Team shortly after giving an inspirational message and lighting the urn during the opening ceremonies of the 21st Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional finals yesterday. This was shortly after Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)
Commissioner Ramon Fernandez broke the news in a Facebook post at around 3 p.m. yesterday.
Tabal and her trainer John Philip Dueñas decided not to comment about the issue as of the moment.
“I don’t want to make this (issue) bigger, I just want to focus on my training and future races,” said Tabal, who is set to defend her title in the 40th National Milo Marathon Cebu leg on Sept. 25.