In this June 6, 2021 photo, Yuka Saso of the Philippines and her father Masakazu Saso celebrate with the Harton S. Semple Trophy after winning the 76th U.S. Women’s Open Championship at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. | Photo by EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Two Filipina golfers in Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso have officially earned seats to the Tokyo Olympics.
This was announced by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, based on the Olympic golf rankings of the International Golf Federation (IGF).
The 19-year old Filipino-Japanese Saso made it to the top ten in the rankings, particularly at ninth spot, following her historic feat in topping the US Women’s Open in San Francisco, USA last June 6, 2021.
READ: Philippine teen golfer Saso wins US Women’s Open
The 23-year-old, Pagdanganan, meanwhile, is ranked 42nd in the IGF Olympic golf rankings.
Bianca Pagdanganan. | inquirer photo
Saso is also best remembered to have won the gold medal in the women’s individual golf competition in the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia while Pagdanganan bagged the bronze medal.
Saso, recently finished 21st in the 2021 KPMG PGA Women’s championships held at The Highlands Course in Atlana, Georgia, USA.
On the other hand, the Republic of Korea’s Jin Young Ko and In Bee Park are the No. 1 and 2 in the women’s Olympic Golf Rankings.
American golfer Nelly Norda is at the No. 3 spot followed by another Korean Sei Young Kim at fourth and Brooke Henderson of Canada at fifth place.
17 strong
With Saso and Pagdanganan qualifying for the Olympics, the Philippines now has 17 hopefuls in the quadrennial meet set to unfold in July in Tokyo, Japan.
The rest are Ernest John Obiena (pole vault), Eumir Marcial (boxing), Carlos Yulo (Gymnastics), Carlo Paalam (boxing), Irish Magno (boxing), Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting), Kurt Barbosa (taekwondo), Nesthy Petecio (boxing), Elreen Ando (weightlifting),
Cris Nievarez (rowing), Margielyn Didal (skateboard), Kristina Knott (athletics), Jayson Valdez (shooting), Kiyomi Watanabe (judo), and Juvic Pagunsan (golf).
Among the 17, three are Cebuanos. They are Didal, Ando, and Watanabe.
/bmjo