Fil-Am group offers to help RP sports

Fil-Am Sports USA Inc., a corporation organized for the purpose of promoting sports among Filipinos residing in the United States of America has offered to help ensure the success of the Philippines’ quest for glory in international sports competitions particularly in the 2005 Southeast Games to be held here.

FASUI, represented by its founder and executive director Dick Padron, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding recently with the Philippine Olympic Committee, represented by its president, Celso Dayrit.

In their agreement, FASUI will coordinate with the POC in the needs of Filipino athletes training in the United States.

Additionally, FASUI has offered to launch an information and awareness campaign all over the American continent in an effort to identify top caliber Filipino-American athletes who may still be eligible to represent the Philippines in international competitions.

In the MOU, the respective national sports associations will be informed of any potential athlete, and the decision of whether to accept the FIl-Am athlete remains with the NSA.

Dayrit explains that the POC and the NSAs will continue to give priority and attention to homeground Filipino athletes, and that any Fil-Am athlete who may be accepted should not displace any deserving Filipinos.

Meanwhile, local sports officials, short of being confident, declared that the coming Asian Games stint should serve as the proper time to finally alter the country’s winning ways.

"The Busan Asiad should mark a turnaround in our own winning ways," said RP delegation Chef de Mission Tom Carrasco, an opinion Dayrit shared during PSA Forum yesterday at the Holiday Inn hotel.

Carrasco refused to say whether the country can surpassed the one gold medal, courtesy of billiards, it won in the Bangkok Asiad four years ago nor the three gold medals boxing delivered in the 1994 Hiroshima Games.

He made it clear though, that the Filipinos’ performance in Busan this September would reflect the kind of showing they’ll have in future international competitions including the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

"Let’s consider Busan as stepping stone for future international meets. We want to look beyond that," Carrasco, also part of the joint POC-Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Asiad Task Force, added in the same forum sponsored by Agfa Colors, Red Bull and Pioneer Insurance.

Dayrit’s optimism also stemmed from the fact that the POC recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Fil-Am Sports USA Inc. (FASUI) in an effort to help ensure the Philippines’ quest for glory in international sports competitions, particularly in the 2005 SEA Games to be held here.

FASUI, a corporation organized for the purpose of promoting sports among Filipinos residing in the US, was represented by its founder and executive director Dick Padron during the affair.

In their agreement, FASUI will coordinate with the POC in the needs of Filipino athletes training in the US.