SMC hikes wushu bets reward to P10M

San Miguel Corp. yesterday gave wushu artists Willy Wang, Mary Jane Estimar, Marianne Mariano and Benjie Rivera another P1 million for winning medals in the recent Beijing Olympics, hiking their reward to a whopping P10 million.

From the latest incentive, Wang received P500,000 for his gold medal feat in nanquan or form event, Estimar got P250,000 for her silver medal effort and Mariano and Rivera P125,000 each in the sanshou or combat event of wushu, a cultural event in Beijing.

“We are happy for our athletes so we thanked San Miguel and FG (First Gentleman) for the incentives,” said RP wushu chief Julian Camacho in turnover ceremony at the Diamond Hotel.

Mike Arroyo, SMC president Ramon Ang, Philippine Sports Commission chair Butch Ramirez and wushu honorary president Francis Chan were also present in the event.

Wushu’s total incentive now amounted to P10 million, including P5 million for Wang, P1 million to Estimar and P500,000 each to Rivera and Mariano from President Arroyo and P1 million each from FG, PSC and now SMC to the team.

“They trained for China for eight months. They are very disciplined and that is why out of the four representatives we send, they all took home medals,” said Arroyo, who vowed to support the RP team competing in the 2009 Laos Southeast Asian Games. – Joey Villar