Know More About Ian “Yan” Lariba a Filipino Olympian
Ian Lariba will represent the Philippines in the world’s most prestigious sporting events, the Rio Olympics 2016 as the only Filipino Olympian who will participate in a lesser known sports, Table Tennis. She made headlines recently after she booked a ticket to Rio Olypmics when she finished strong at the ITTF-Asian Olympic Games Qualification Tournament last April.
According to the DLSU Lady Padllers’s pride, Ian “Yan” Lariba, alhough the sports of table tennis is not that popular in the Philippines, compared to basketball and volleyball but she promised to do her best to represent the country in the prestigious Olympics event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In an interview with the Kapamilya Channel the Filipina Olympian was quoted as saying “Hindi sya ganun kasikat kagaya ng basketball and volleyball, or other more popular sports,” Lariba admits. “Siguro, I was used to it already na di talaga masyado napapansin yung table tennis dito sa Pilipinas,” she said.
The 21-year-old Table Tennis veteran stated during an interview that she heard some rumors about her chosen sports, Table Tennis as a sidelined sports but she keeps on doing what’s best for her career as a sportswoman. She noted that as long as she enjoyed the sports nobody can bother her because she enjoyed the sports and she did her job very well.
Although Table Tennis is not that popular in the country, she dreamed that somebody, whatever she achieved today for the table tennis commuity in the Philippines would be a start of something better for Filipinos.
Ian Lariba is currently finishing her five-year BS Management in Financial Institution course and also finished her collegiate sports career with three UAAP championships in Table Tennis, she is now preparing herself as she flies to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the 2016 Olympics. The young athlete is the first-ever Filipino to be playing at the Olympics’ table tennis event since its introduction in 1998.
According to Lariba before she achieved her goals of playing for the Philippines in the Olympics, she started table tennis in third grade when she accompanied her parents in a sports complext in her native Cagayan de Oro City. She then made it to the varsity team of her school, Corpus Christi School and she became part of the national women’s team in her freshmentyear in high school.