SHOTS were fired within the Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) camp a week before the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
A faction led by former PNSA president Luis ‘Chavit’ Singson is asking the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to go through the composition of the shooting team to the Asiad that comes off the wraps on Sept. 23, noting the inclusion of shooters in the list who failed to meet the standard qualification for the quadrennial meet.
Chavit questions shooting team composition
The nine-man shooting team led by Olympian Jayson Valdez is set to leave for China Thursday of next week.
Shooting competitions start on Sept. 24.
“Being the past president of PNSA, naba-bother kami dahil nagpapadala sila ng hindi qualified. OK lang kung qualified, baka minalas. Pero hindi qualified, e. May qualification yan,” said Singson, the former governor of Ilocos Sur.
“Yun lang ang concern namin.”
At the same time, Singson along with PNSA member and former national shooter Raul Arambulo denounced the exclusion of rising pistol shooter Carlo Valdez, who both agreed are qualified for the national team to the Asiad.
Arambulo, who saw action in the 1998 Asiad in Bangkok, Thailand, said Valdez – not related to Jayson – has been a consistent top notcher in the men’s air pistol qualifiers conducted by the PNSA.
Only a month ago, Valdez ruled the Aug 6 and 13 shootfest by scoring 576 in the 10-meter event and 558 in the free pistol 50m.
During the PNSA monthly eliminations, he fired 584 to equal the 27-year-old national mark owned by Fil-Am Jomike Gonzales.
Arambulo noted Valdez placed ninth in the World Cup held in Jakarta early this year, and then finished sixth in the Asian Championship.
“Nagtataka lang kami bakit hindi siya kasama doon sa Asian Games team. Siya pa naman, ika nga ang pinaka-potential na makapag-deliver ng medalya sa atin,” he said.
“Ang daming qualified na shooters natin, bakit hindi yun ang ipadala. Nagpadala sila yung hindi qualified,” added Singson, who is also chairman emeritus of PNSA.
“They (PNSA) have the results, they have the records. That’s the basis that they should have used,” added Arambulo.
Previously, Chavit and Co. also decried the selection of the national team that competed in the ISSF Lonato World Cup in Italy last July, including a shooter who ended up DNF not only once but twice.
The Lonato Cup served as a qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Of late, the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has been lobbying for last-minutes changes in the team rosters of several national sports associations, including Gilas Pilipinas, despite the deadline for the submission of entry by names to the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee has already lapsed last July 25.
But there would be a final delegation registration meeting set on Sept. 17 in which it will be known whether changes in the rosters have been approved.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph