POC to train 100 elite athletes

The Philippine Olympic Committee is looking at the country’s top 100 athletes who will be placed under a special training program aimed at producing great results in the international arena.

Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, armed with a fresh, four-year mandate as POC president, said once identified, the athletes will undergo training the way the top athletes from other countries do.

“We’ll concentrate on looking for a hundred elite athletes. These 100 athletes will be given the kind of training that our competitors are getting,” said Cojuangco recently.

“They will specifically get the right nutrition, physical fitness program and technology,” added Cojuangco.

In the past, the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission identified the sport, actually 15 priority sports, to be placed under a special program. This time, the athletes are the ones being identified.

The Philippines is hoping to do well in the 2009 Laos Asian Games after a dismal performance in Thailand in 2007. The 2010 Asian Games in China, and the 2012 London Olympics will come next.

Cojuangco said he’d seek the help of the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp., the biggest benefactor of local sports and under chairman Efraim Genuino, regarding the “Top 100” program.

“I’m hoping to ask Mr. Genuino to accommodate some of them,” Cojuangco said.

The POC chief, who spent Christmas in the US, has prolonged his stay after elder brother Don Pedro Cojuangco and wife Dona Rosario figured in a near-fatal accident in Los Angeles.

Jose Romasanta, POC spokesman, said the 81-year-old Don Pedro was traveling with his wife and other relatives in a white Ford E-150 when an 18-wheeler truck went out of control and hit 11 vehicles on the highway.

The van carrying the Cojuangcos overturned, and after the accident, based on photos, which Romasanta saw on the Internet, was a total wreck.

“They’re out of danger in terms of not being fatal. But Don Pedro suffered a fractured collar bone while Dona Sari (Rosario) had internal injuries, broken ribs and punctured lungs,” Romasanta said.

The others in the van carrying the Cojuangcos back from Disneyland escaped serious injuries although one them, an in-law, underwent spine operation. A Cojuangco grandchild was unhurt.

The elder Cojuangcos were flown out of the accident site on separate helicopters, and were brought to separate hospitals depending on the injuries they suffered.