Noel Norada, Jason Baucas, Alvin Lobrequito, and Jiah Pingot will be the Filipino wrestler hopefuls that will contend in the qualifying tournaments and will have the chance of ending the three-decade absence of Filipino wrestlers in the Olympics.

In the recently concluded 30th Sea Games hosted by the country, the Philippines snatched two gold medals in wrestling with Norada and Baucas topping the Men’s Greco-Roman 63kg and 72kg respectively.

Moreover, Lobreguito in the 57kg Men’s freestyle and Pingot in the 50kg Women’s freestyle both secured silver medal finishes.

WAP President Alvin Aguilar will also be considering a backdoor entry in the quadrennial games.

“We can get a slot as a wild card since the last time we had wrestlers in the Olympics was as far back in the 80s,” he said.

The last Olympic wrestling stint was during 1988 where Dean Carlos Manibog and Florentino Tirante participated in the Summer Olympics held at Seoul, South Korea.

With the health protocols prohibiting the conduct of sports activities because of the pandemic, training was not allowed which, according to Aguilar, may slow down the progress of the athletes.

“For now, training is not yet allowed. But I hope the IATF approves the request for our national athletes to start training because we really need to be prepared for the Olympics,” Aguilar said.