PENCIL in golfers Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan in the roster of the country’s athletes bound for the Tokyo Olympic Games next month with their names expected to be announced by the International Golf Federation late yesterday in the top 60 list of those who will play in quadrennial event.
US Women’s Open champion Saso and Pagdanganan maintained their No. 9 and No. 42 spots, respectively, in the IGF Olympic qualifying rankings for the Tokyo-bound golfers based on their performances in major golf tournaments globally.
Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the world golf body was scheduled to release the Olympic-bound roster of players at 8 p.m. yesterday in Europe, but the Japanese LPGA tour virtually confirmed the participation of Saso, a regular in the Japanese tour, in a story posted on its website yesterday.
It likewise mentioned Japanese Nasa Hataoka, No. 11 in both the Rolex and Olympic ratings who lost to Saso in a playoff at the US Women’s Open early this month, and Mone Inami among its Olympic-bound campaigners.
The story noted that Saso moved up one rung to No. 8 in the Rolex Women’s rankings, from which the IGF ratings are based, released last Monday to further cement her place in the qualifying ranking list, which was also cited in Facebook post of the Philippine Golf Tour yesterday.
The PGT is bankrolled by the International Cargo Transport Services Inc., which is a backer of the Filipino-Japanese athlete.
Those ranked from Nos. 1 to 15 in the Olympic ratings earn outright slots to the Summer Games, limited to four per country, while the rest of the berths are allotted to those in the list limited to two golfers per country as long as they are not in the top 15.
The national Olympic contingent is expected to swell further with two swimmers expected to be awarded with universality places by the International Swimming Federation, according to Philippine Swimming Inc. president Lani Velasco.
Velasco declined to name the two athletes until the world swimming body, known by its French acronym FINA, makes the formal announcement today.
Chasing her second major in the US LPGA tour, Saso, who turned 20 last June 20, finished in a five-way for 21st place in the just-concluded KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at the Athletics Club Highlands course in Johns Creek Georgia while Pagdanganan missed the halfway cut.
They will be the 16th and 17th athletes, respectively, who will carry the country’s colors in the quadrennial Summer Games set to open on July 23 after being delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It will be a reunion of sorts for the two former national teammates, who combined with Louis Kaye Go to sweep the individual and team gold medals in the women’s golf tournament of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
