MANILA, Philippines – Three Filipino athletes wil l be competing in the upcoming Winter Youth Olympics in Gangwon, South Korea later this month.
In a Facebook post, Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino named the three athletes — Peter Groseclose, Avery Balbanida and Laetaz Rabe.
Groseclose will be competing in the short track speed skating event of the Olympics.
Balbanida, meanwhile, will be seeing action in cross country, while Rabe will represent the Philippines in freestyle slopestyle and freestyle big air.
“The Philippi nes may be a tropical country, the Olympic spirit knows no boundaries. It transcends climates, uniting us in the pursuit of excellence and the celebration of the human potential,” Tolentino said.
“Our athletes are testaments to this Olympic spirit. They have defied limitations and embraced the challenge of competing in winter sports, demonstrating the Filipi no determination,” he added.
The Winter Youth Olympics will be held from January 19 to February 1, with a record 1,900 athletes taking part.
This is up from the 1,788 participants at Lausanne 2020, according to the Olympics website.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Coco Gauff stepped up preparations for the Australian Open with an emphatic 6-3, 6-0 win over rising Czech Brenda Fruhvirtova at the Auckland Classic on Thursday to march into the quarterfinals.
After a few issues at the start in which US Open champion Gauff dropped her first service game and had to save two break points on her third, the 19-year-old proved unstoppable in the battle of the teens.
The 16-year-old qualifier Fruhvirtova, who beat world number 48 Anna Blinkova in the first round, won only 10 points in the second set of a match that was over in 70 minutes.
“She started off playing very well and I was able to raise my level. I thought I ser ved well and I did better on the returns,” said Gauff, who sent down five aces.
The American will next play eighth seed Varvara Gracheva, the world number 42.
On the other side of the draw, seventh seed Petra Martic of Croatia beat China’s Yue Yuan 6-2, 6-2 and will play the winner of the match between number two seed Elina Svitolina and Emma Raducanu.
Former US Open champion Raducanu has slipped to 301 in the world after being sidelined by injury for the past eight months.
The Australian Open starts on January 14.