A potential canoe-kayak medal was taken away from the Philippines following the cancellation of the 200-meter singles event in next year’s Asian Games in Indonesia.
Philippine Canoe-Kayak Federation (PCKDF) president Jonne Go said the Indonesia Asian Games organizing committee removed the individual event from the sport’s calendar.
She said Hermie Macaranas, who has been improving his performance in the event, could have been a possible gold medal winner.
“Hermie (Macaranas) is our strongest bet for a possible gold in the Asian Games kaya siguro inalis nila ang event,” said Go during the PCKDF’s fourth and last of the 2017 Club Crew Challenge Championship series at the CCP Bay Terminal in Pasay City.
The 22-year old Macaranas is coming off a 15th place finish behind mostly Europeans in the International Canoe Federation World Under 23 Sprint Championships in Pitesti, Romania.
The two-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist finished sixth in the nine-man 200-meter Final B race. He was the only player from Asia to reach the final and submitted a personal best of 43.37 seconds, just 1.2 seconds adrift of Canadian winner Stephen Frodsham of Canada.
Macaranas will be left with only one event with 19-year old teammate Ojay Fuentes in the 200m Canoe Doubles where they finished fourth in the recent World Championships.
Macaranas’ specialty is among the nine events that were scrapped by the organizers including three in boxing, two in BMX, one each in Jiu jitsu, karate, kurash (Turkish wrestling) and sambo. They will be replaced with five events in archery and wall climbing, a new Olympic event that will be played in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.