UNITED States’ National Collegiate Athletic Association standouts and Filipino-American Paris Olympians Emma Malabuyo and Aleah Finnegan will spearhead the national women’s team that will seek medals for the Philippines in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
The 22-year-old Malabuyo will soon come to Manila to join Finnegan and train for the biennial meet.
Finnegan and Malabuyo represented the Philippines last year in the Paris Olympics with Carlos Yulo, who finished with two gold medals.
Malabuyo, who recently earned her degree in Communication at the University of California-Los Angeles, is coming to train with the national women’s team after getting named as NCAA national balance beam runner-up in 2025.
She got his honor after helping lead UCLA to a second-place finish at the NCAA national Championships, behind titleholder Oklahoma.
Officials of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippine confirmed Malabuyo’s commitment following her successful stint with UCLA and getting a recommendation in the first-team All-Big Ten selection and as an AAI Award nominee.
GAP officials said Finnegan is now training at the Manny V. Pangilinan training center in Intramuros since last week, as part of her preparations for the SEA Games.
Finnegan and the Louisiana State University Tigers settled for fifth place after reaching the semifinals in the USA NCAA Division 1 last season.
“She’s already here. And she will stay and train here until the SEA Games,” said GAP president Cynthia Carrion.
Malabuyo and Finnegan will have 17-year-old newcomer Haylee Garcia joining them.
Garcia, who is from Surigao, is currently in Utah, and has been training there for a year.
The men’s team will once again have Yulo, Ivan Cruz, Miguel Besana and Justin Ace de Leon.
Before the SEA Games, both the national men’s and women’s teams will first see action in the World Championships in Jakarta, set from Oct. 18 to 25.
