Cycling head sacked; tryouts still on

MANILA, Philippines - Politics threatened to disrupt the “unified” cycling tryouts for the RP team to the Asian Games as one of the two parties sacked its representative to the negotiations at the last minute, jeopardizing the agreement that paved the way for the staging of the qualifying races.

The group that has the backing of the Philippine Olympic Committee, through its secretary general Armando Bautista, told the POC that it was relieving acting president Arnold Taberdo of his position for lack of trust and confidence and instead installed Ramon Cruz in his place.

Taberdo has already affixed his signature on the agreement for the races, along with the rival claimant, led by the International Cycling Union-recognized Tagaytay City Mayor Abraham Tolentino.

Despite this, the POC and Tolentino’s camp said they are ready to proceed with the tryouts.

“As far as we’re concerned, there has been an agreement and the concerned parties have signed it, so it’s a go,” said Moying Martelino, a member of the POC working committee that handles the RP delegation to the Asiad.

Tolentino, for his part, said his group is “acting in good faith,” noting that “leadership is not an issue in this gentleman’s agreement.”

The races, slated later this month, are designed to come up with a unified cycling team for this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou and avoid what happened last year in the SEA Games where the RP riders were barred from participating due to the absence of UCI licenses.