Didal packing 'bag of tricks' for Tokyo

MANILA, Philippines — Winning a medal in the Tokyo Olympics next month is like threading the proverbial eye of the needle.

But for skateboarder Margie Didal, nothing is impossible.

“It will be very competitive in the Olympics because the United States, Brazil and Japan are really strong,” said the 22-year-old Didal during Friday’s online media briefing organized by Red Bull.

“But I have some bag of tricks that I need to train and I hope it works out, we’ll see,” she added.

And the Asian Games gold medalist has about three weeks to master her tricks during her two-week training camp in Santa Monica and Los Angeles, California early next month that she hopes will boost her medal chances.

From LA, she, along with coach Daniel Bautista, will then plane in to Tokyo on July 18, or just in time for her event slated July 25 to 28.

“There’s a couple of tricks we’re trying to work on but it will still depend on the obstacles in Tokyo. We just have to find the right obstacle to do it and we’ll try work on it during our last training camp in LA where we hope to find a place closest to the Olympics,” said Bautista.

Didal qualified by finishing 14th in the world Olympic rankings that was bolstered by a pair of semifinal effort in the Dew Tour in Des Moines, Iowa and the Street World Championships in Rome Italy last month.

Red Bull, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation (MVPSF) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) are backing Didal’s Olympic medal search.