MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Sports Commission chairman Harry Angping is urging the different national sports associations (NSAs) to start screening their athletes for possible inclusion to the 25th SEA Games in Laos in December.
Angping said the NSAs must be ready with their official lineups by June or July.
Then the chosen athletes will be sent to China or any other country for another three months of extensive training heading to the Laos Games where the Philippines will be hard-pressed to deliver.
“July is the best time to send our athletes to China or abroad because of the rainy season here. They should train elsewhere on the rainy months of July, August and September,” said Angping.
“It’s summer in China around that time, and this early we’re looking at Xiamen to be the base of their training. We have reliable friends in Xiamen,” said the PSC chairman.
He added that the PSC, which will fund the training of the athletes, would make sure that the athletes are stationed in places where there are Filipino communities.
“This way, they will not be as bored as when they trained in other Chinese provinces before. The PSC will also make sure that they get adequate allowances as they train there.”
Angping said even if they don’t find the top Chinese coaches in Xiamen, the Filipino athletes would still be better off in that place than in Manila or the other areas of training here.
Angping, together with his commissioners Jose Mundo, Akiko Thomson, Erik Loretizo and Fr. Vic Uy, sat down with POC representatives Steve Hontiveros, Buddy Andrada and Mario Tanchangco last month.
Tanchangco is the chef-de-mission of the RP delegation to Laos. They agreed that even gold and silver medalists in the 2007 Thailand SEA Games will not be seeded to this year’s staging of the biennial event.
“They are only candidates who will be included in the national pool and undergo tryouts. And by June, we will know who will undergo intensive training (here and abroad),” Angping said.
The PSC has earmarked P30 million for the RP participation to the Laos SEA Games, but Angping said the budget might increase as long as there’s a clear shot at the gold for each of the event.
In the 2007 SEAG, the Philippines sent close to 600 athletes to Thailand, and won 41 gold medals for sixth place – a ratio of one gold for every 14 athletes. It was the country’s worst finish in the SEA Games.