POC approves guidelines for Asiad selection

The Philippine Olympic Committee general assembly approved yesterday the guidelines in the selection of athletes for this year’s Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

POC president Celso Dayrit said the assembly approved the guidelines submitted by the executive council in a meeting at the EI Circulo in Makati City even as more than a dozen national sports associations boycotted the event.

"We pushed through with the intended approval of the Asian Games guidelines despite the absence of some NSAs," said Dayrit. "The important thing here is that the POC is still functioning."

Dayrit also announced the assembly’s resolution of the cycling leadership row.

The POC recognized Ponciano Regalado as the president of the Philippine Amateur Cycling Association after more than a year of bickerings that resulted in a miserable performance by the RP riders in last year’s Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games.

Fifteen voting NSAs did not attend the assembly meeting but Dayrit said only a dozen or less were part of the planned boycott launched by the disgruntled group, which included taekwondo’s Robert Aventajado, athletics’ Go Teng Kok and lawn tennis’ Salvador "Buddy" Andrada.

Aside from the three, basketball, judo, softball, pencak silat, wrestling, equestrian, soft tennis, golf, volleyball, weightlifting, karatedo and sepak takraw were not represented in the meeting. – Joey Villar