PSC rallies behind Tabal’s inclusion in SEA Games squad

Cebuana marathoner Mary Joy Tabal’s reinstatement with the national team got a major boost after the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) threw its support behind the beleguered runner, who has been out of the national team since finishing the Rio Olympics last year. 

Tabal, the four-time Milo marathon champion and the unofficial record holder for both the 42K and 21K distances in the country, is hoping to see action in the Southeast Asian Games this year.

However, she was not included in the list of athletes the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association submitted to the PSC.

“How can Patafa (Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association), not accept Joy, she’s the best Filipina marathon runner that we have. She won a silver medal in 2015 and finished the Olympics without any support from Patafa. How can he (Philip Juico) not put her back in the national team?” said PSC commissioner Ramon Fernandez.

Juico, the Patafa president, only heeded the clamor to include Tabal in the national team last year when the Cebuana hit the qualifying mark for the Rio Olympics in Canada.

She trained on her own with coach John Philip Duenas in Cebu before the qualifiers and also had a two-month training stint in Japan courtesy of a private sponsor.

In earlier interviews, Tabal said Patafa is requiring her to transfer to Manila before she could be reinstated, something she is not comfortable with because she considers Cebu her comfort zone and was able to excel nationally and internationally while training in Cebu.

When Patafa submitted its initial list of candidates for the SEA Games two weeks ago, Tabal was not included in the list, leading the then newly-crowned Milo marathon champion to worry.

Tabal said she was hoping the issue would be resolved soon so she could just concentrate on her training for the SEA Games, which is set in August.

Fernandez also agrees that the issue has to be settled.

“I will be talking to Juico regarding Joy’s situation. One of the programs of the Philippine Sports Institute is sports psychology, how can Joy be psychologically balanced going into competition if she’s still in a limbo on her status in the national team?” said Fernandez.

For this year’s SEA Games, Joy hopes to train in Kenya or in Japan for two months as part of her intensive preparation in her bid to improve on her silver medal finish in Singapore in 2015.

Tabal set her personal best and Philippine record in the marathon at 2:43:31 in the ScotiaBank Ottawa Marathon in Canada in May 2016.

She also set her 21K and Philippine record in the Adachi Goshikizakura Half-Marathon in Tokyo in January, 2016 at 1:18:44.

“We told Joy not to worry because we will approach Patafa and ask them what is going on and what is the main reason why she is not on the list. We will try our best to bring her back to the national team,” said Fernandez, who has vowed to champion athlete’s rights in his stint at the PSC. PNA