18 Apr A Native of Cagayan de Oro and Former Student from Corpus Christi Qualified for Rio 2016 Olympics
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Secured to book the 11th and final ticket to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics is Ian Nietes Lariba, a native of Cagayan de Oro and a former student and prominent athlete from Corpus Christ. The first Filipino to qualify for the Olympics in the table tennis event since its inclusion at the 1899 Games.
22-year old Lariba earned her spot in the 2016 Olympics after topping the women’s singles event defeating Lilis Indriani of Indonesia at the ITTF-Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Hong Kong just this April 17, Saturday. During the classification phase, Lariba defeated Maha Faramarzi of Qatar scoring 11-5, 11-1, 11-7, 11-4, who then outplayed Mahjobeh Omran of Iran with 11-6, 15-13, 11-8, 7-11, 10-13,11-8. Though she was stopped by her Thai opponent before winning against the Indonesian player.
Ian Lariba was named co-Athlete of the Year in the UAAP Season 77 and reigned twice as UAAP women’s table tennis MVP.
Ranking 324th in the world, she joins the ranks of trackster Eric Cray, boxers Charly Suarez and Rogen Ladon, taekwondo jin Kirstie Elaine Alora and weightlifter Hidlyn Diaz as Philippine athletes who have qualified for the Rio Olympics.
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