These are among the major achievements of the four-year-old Dance Sports Council of the Philippines, according to DSCP president Becky Garcia and vice president Jun Herrera in yesterday’s PSA forum at the Holiday Inn Manila.
"We only had 30 couples who participated in our first official tournament in 1996, but in our national championships last October we had no less than 200 pairs," said Garcia in citing the tremendous development of the sport nationwide.
Garcia added that in the recent Asian dancesport competitions in Hong Kong, Filipinos wound up fourth overall after Australia, Japan and Chinese-Taipeh.
"Other countries now fear and respect us. They find it hard to believe in the progress we have achieved considering that the DSCP has only been promoting dancesport for only four years," she said. "We have helped place the Philippines in the world dancesport map."
Herrera, an international dancesports judge, noted the natural grace and rhythm of Filipinos have helped a lot in the country making inroads into the sport.
Garcia and Herrera disclosed the Filipino Latin pair of John Co and Belinda Co ranks among the best in Asia while the Junior II Latin duo of John Erolle Melencio and Krystle Dae Tadeo, both 14, finished sixth in the last Children of Asia International Sports Games in Yakutsk, Russia.
They said dancesport will be a medal discipline in the World Games next year in Akita, Japan even as dancesport associations around the world are lobbying for it to be part of the 2008 Olympic Games.
Garcia cited the assistance extended by the Philippine Sports Commission in providing dancesport with a training center at the Philsports Complex in Pasig.
"With the training center, which is up to world standards, our dancers will further hone their skills and preserve the gains in the international dance scene," Garcia.
Among the DSCP’s plans, she said, is to hire foreign coaches to upgrade local dancesport standards.