Cebu’s Justin Liam Chiongbian is preparing to represent the country after he was chosen as one of the top candidates for the Asian Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Qualifying Race slated next year in Kazakhstan.
Chiongbian, who finished second in the 13-14 category of the recently held Alaska IronKids Triathlon, was the third highest pointer of the Philippine YOG Qualifying Series with 19 points.
The Philippine YOG Qualifying Series was comprised of the Batang Pinoy Triathlon in December 2012, Subic NAGT last February, the Asian Triathlon Championships in April, the Cebu NAGT in May, and the TriUNITED 2 last month.
He will be joining Jimuel Patilan, the highest pointer with 27, and Jose Nobles, who had 20 points. They will train under coaches Anthony Lozada, Patrick Joson and Melvin Fausto.
The boys will also be undergoing training outside the country.
Chosen in the distaff side were Magali Echauz, Kate Lagman and Vicky Deldio. Echauz and Lagman went to Jeju, Korea for the ITU/ASTC Women’s Training Camp from July 30 to Aug 6. /CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON