Cojuangco Jaworski, early last week, has announced her unavailability to defend her crown due to a neck injury suffered while helping another RP team campaign for the gold medal in the last Southeast Asian Games.

Cojuangco Jaworski’s nieces, Danielle Cojuangco and Michelle Barrera, who, for the past four years have been campaigning in the tough American and Australian circuits, will definitely wear the country’s colors anew after skipping last year’s Southeast Asian Games.

"Danielle and Michelle will add international experience to the team. Michelle is currently one of the leading riders in Australia today. She, in fact, has qualified to run in the World Equestrian Games, the only Filipina to have done so this year," Carissa Coscoluella, Philippine Equestrian Association treasurer who is also in charge of the national team’s development and training, said.

Besides qualifying for the World Equestrian Games, Coscoluella added that Barrera has also made it to the World Cup Finals set next month in Kuala Lumpur, along with national teammate Toni Leviste, who will be representing Southeast Asia.

"The two, Paola Zobel and Jones (John Lanza), who round up membership of the team, will also proceed to Europe, while Danielle will remain in the USA where she will complete her preparations. She will also go to Canada for the Grand Prix Circuit, " Coscoluella said.

"The plan is for all our riders to be provided with quality training by way of sending them to top-level international competitions between now and December to prepare them for the Asian Games," she disclosed. "In short we will make this year’s team a more experienced, mature and better mounted than four years ago to vie, not only for the individual honors but team as well."

As far as Jones is concerned, Coscoluella said the SEA Games individual bronze medalist has to find a good mount to replace his favorite "Don’t Cry For Me" which he lent to somebody and won’t be ready for the Asiad.

Joker Arroyo, the fourth member of the Philippine team which won the team gold medal in the SEA Games, will be enrolling in the US and has begged off from the Asiad.

"Yes, it is extremely unlikely that I will be making it to the Asian Games, I’ve applied for enrollment in 11 US universities, like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford, to mention a few to concentrate on my studies in the meantime," Arroyo, daughter of Sen. Joker Arroyo told Tempo-Bulletin in a separate interview.

Besides Cojuangco Jaworski’s individual gold medal, the nationals, including Leviste, Barrera and Danielle Cojuangco bagged the silver medal in the team competition.