Cycling, bowling to hold elections

The Philippine Integrated Cycling Federation (PhilCycling) and the Philippine Bowling Congress will proceed with their elections despite the Philippine Olympic Committee’s refusal to send representatives to the electoral exercise.

PhilCycling will hold its elections today at the Amoranto Multi-Purpose Hall in Quezon City while the PBC will elect a new set of officers on Sunday at the PBC office at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Joey Romasanta, POC media bureau chief, yesterday said the Olympic body has sent letters to the two associations requesting them to defer their elections pending the resolution of issues regarding their memberships and other pending matters.

The two associations, however, maintained their membership rosters are in order and therefore don’t need to reschedule their respective elections.

PhilCycling, in particular, has expressed surprise over the POC refusal to send a representative to its elections based on the claim of another cycling group claiming to be the legitimate NSA in the sport.

In a letter to the POC last Jan. 13, PhilCycling insisted it is the legitimate NSA for the sport and even noted the association cast the vote for cycling in the POC elections last Nov. 28.

In the same letter, PhilCycling wondered why the other group has been given prominence by the POC when its members “have not applied for UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) licenses which is a requirement by our international federation to become an official member of the cycling family.”

The group held its elections last Dec. 13, the day PhilCycling held a meeting to revalidate its membership roster.