It’s official: Tabal can compete in Rio Olympics

TABAL (CDN FILE PHOTO)

Cebu’s pride Mary Joy Tabal has officially become the first Filipina to qualify for Olympic marathon after being reinstated to the Philippine National Team by the Philippine Amateur Athletic Association (Patafa), the country’s governing body for athletics.

This was announced by Motor Ace Racing-Kawassaki, the corporate backer of Tabal, in a statement sent to the media on Tuesday afternoon.

“We have long wanted to protect Mary Joy. We have questioned her racing schedule and its effects on her ability to sustain steady improvements over time. However, we also recognize she qualified on her own so we put our differences aside. We reinstated her and we have allowed her to follow her training program despite our concerns and we hope for the best in Rio for the nation,” said the Patafa in a statement emailed to Motor Ace Philippines.

This development means that the 26-year-old Tabal will be able to compete in the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this August.

Tabal made the Olympic qualifying time for marathon when she raced in the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon last May 29 (May 30, Philippine time). She clocked in with 2:43:29, beating the 2:45:00 qualifying mark.

“When I qualified, you could say that I could not fully celebrate because I wasn’t sure that I will be reinstated. But now that I am, the happiness is unexplainable,” Tabal said in the statement sent by Motor Ace Racing-Kawassaki.