THE Philippine Muay Thai team is optimistic it can duplicate, if not surpass, its three-gold medal performance in the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Subic Bay, Zambales.
“We’re just hoping to replicate our medal haul in the last SEA Games here so the team is preparing and working double time to ensure that,” Muaythai Association of the Philippines (MAP) Secretary-General Pearl Managuelod on Sunday told The STAR.
Ms. Managuelod, who is also an executive board member of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), said they would hold a national qualifying competition in February next year.
From there, the MAP hopes to send the national squad to several international competitions with hopes of performing well in the Hanoi tilt, which has initially staked 11 golds in the sport.
In the last SEA Games, the Filipinos finished second overall in the sport with a three-gold, four-silver and two-bronze haul.
The Thais, who invented the martial event, took first with four mints and a silver.
Philip Delarmino, a SEA Games gold medalist, is expected to lead the country’s campaign and ride high on his golden effort in the World Championships in Phuket, Thailand early this month.
“We’re planning to have foreign training again, if possible, and join in eight or nine events,” said Ms. Managuelod. — Joey Villar