Ilongga rider lands at 11th in Tokyo Olympics qualifier

All is not lost for Ariana Dormitorio. There are more qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
All is not lost for Ariana Dormitorio. There are more qualifying tournaments for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

MANILA – Ilongga rider Ariana Dormitorio’s quest for a spot in 2020 Tokyo Olympics will have to wait after settling for an 11th place finish in the Olympic Qualifying Asian MTB Championship in Lebanon.


Ariana’s father and head coach Donjie Dormitorio said the Ilongga rider sustained a left gluteal muscle injury while in the race to fall short of her goal of taking home the gold medal, which could automatically qualify her to the Olympics.


“Hard luck for Ariana in her race here in Lebanon. She injured her left gluteal muscle while pushing her bike up an unridable hill right at the start of the race,” Donjie said in a Facebook post.


“She was in the lead but when she reached a steep climb were all the racers pushed their bikes up, she felt her gluteal muscle got pulled. It was very painful,” the coach added.


The pain affected her pedaling. “But she managed to finish the race despite her pain,” Donjie said. “Ariana would like to apologize to her fans for this unexpected incident.”


All is not lost, however, for Dormitorio as there are still Olympic qualifying tournaments soon, according to Donjie, on top of her participation in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games later this year.


“Ariana vows to come back stronger next time and still continue to try and qualify for the 2020 Olympics and the next ones,” Donjie said./PN

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