POC to propose 22 sports for ’05 SEAG

Arnis, an indigenous form of martial art, might just make its first ever appearance in the Southeast Asian Games in 2005.

This developed as the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) general assembly approved yesterday the inclusion of arnis and 21 other disciplines in the "priority list" of events when the country hosts the 23rd edition of the biennial meet next year.

"It’s not yet final because it’s still the SEAG Federation which will have the final say," said POC president Celso Dayrit, who is also chair of the 11-nation SEAGF.

"We will recommend these sports to the SEAG Federation members in a meeting on March 5 here in the country," POC secretary-general Romeo Ribaño said.

"But most likely, these are the sports that can be expected in 2005 because we feel the federation would give its approval," Ribaño added.

Joining arnis in the list are aquatics, athletics, archery, baseball, basketball, billiards and snooker, boxing, bowling, dancesport, chess, equestrian, fencing, golf, gymnastics, judo, softball, taekwondo, triathlon, wrestling and wushu.

Karatedo, cycling and shooting were not part of the list because POC officials expect the other members of the SEAGF to recommend it anyway, according to Ribaño.

Football, volleyball, lawn tennis, table tennis, canoeing, badminton, pencak silat, boardsailing and squash are also expected to be recommended for inclusion.

It would be recalled that the POC, then under president Jose Sering, approved arnis as a regular event for the 1991 Manila Games but was reduced to demonstration sport by the SEAG Federation less than two weeks before the holding of the games.

"The inclusion of arnis as one of the priority sports of the POC for the 2005 SEAG here in the country is a dream come true for us," said Jose Dion Diaz, president of the Indigenous Games Sports Savers Association of the Philippines (IGSSAP).

IGSSAP is an association promoting local disciplines like sikaran, kuntaw, dumog, jendo and arnis.

Meanwhile, the POC officially accepted the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation as a new regular member. Formerly under the rowing association, the PDBF, under president Socrates Romero, got the needed two-thirds vote for inclusion into the POC.