TOKYO Olympian Jayson Valdez will see action in the International Sports Shooting Federation World Cup set April 9 to 19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as part of his preparations for the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games barely six weeks from now.
“This will be my first international competition since the Olympics so our secretary general (Irene Garcia) is trying to arrange with the Philippine Sports Commission so I can have at least a week’s training in Rio before the actual competition,” Valdez said in a recent interview.
He failed to advance to the finals of the men’s 10-meter air rifle event in the Tokyo Olympiad after scoring 612.6 points, finishing 44th out 46 entries in the qualifying round.
“The Rio event will be part of our build-up for the Southeast Asian Games so we hope to do well in the tournament,” said Valdez, now a private in the Philippine Army.
“We decided not to go for special training but instead just enlisted as a regular private because it would be difficult for me to balance my training as a soldier and an athlete.
Shooting is really my passion,” he explained. “I can be a national athlete and serve our country as a soldier as well.”
Valdez said the tournament is not a qualifying meet for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games “but we are awaiting the new schedule of qualifying that will be issued by our federation,” which, he said, could include the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
A bronze medalist in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games, Valdez added he is more focused on returning to the podium of his pet event after failing to qualify when the country hosted the meet three years ago as well as the 2017 edition in Malaysia.
