House wants priority on 15 sports

As the country prepares for the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan, Korea, the House of Representatives is mulling on giving priority on sports where the Philippines has a strong chance of winning a gold medal.

Monico Puentevella, chair of House Committee on Youth and Sports, told The STAR yesterday that he will recommend to the Philippine Sports Commission to name probably 15 events where local athletes could win medals in future international events.

"We will recommend to the PSC the prioritizing of several selected sports where we have a better chance of winning medals in the Asian Games and other foreign events next to that," said Puentevella.

Puentevella met yesterday with top sports officials which included PSC chairman Carlos Tuason and Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit in a hearing which lasted more than four hours.

Preparations for next year’s Asian Games were one of the matters discussed by Puentevella, Tuazon, Dayrit and other heads of the National Sports Associations which saw action in the recently-concluded SEAG in Kuala Lumpur.

Among the sports Puentevella is considering are athletics, wrestling, takewondo, wushu, karatedo, judo, lawn tennis, golf, bowling, table tennis, boxing and bowling.

These NSAs, whose selection was based on their performance in the past decade (1991-2001), will get priority in terms of financial and logistical support from government while sports which did not deliver in the last 10 years may find their annual budget slashed.

"We’re doing this so as to garner more medals not only in next year’s Asian Games but also n future SEAG competitions like the 2003 in Veitnam and the 2005 here in RP," said Puentevella. -Joey Villar