POC vows better results in Myanmar

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Olympic Committee board has made it its mission in 2013 to bring the country out of the doldrums in the Southeast Asian Games.

Two years ago, the Filipino athletes finished an embarrassing sixth overall and new POC chairman Tom Carrasco said a similar lowly standing in the 2013 edition in Myanmar would already be unacceptable.

“We’re not promising the moon like we would be eyeing the overall championship. But certainly we will do everything we are capable of doing to escape that deplorable finish,” Carrasco said during yesterday’s Scoop Sa Kamayan session.

Carrasco is taking the more conservative approach in painting a target in the biennial joust, though.

“Kung pwede pang mag-third, mas maganda at hindi na tayo mapapahiya sa ating mga kababayan (If we can reach third, that would be a good achievement already). Huwag namang (But not) sixth or, worse, seventh, for that matter. That’s already unforgivable,” the triathlon chief said.

The POC board, according to Carrasco, will put premium on pre-Games training to achieve this goal, especially conditioning.

“POC president Peping Cojuangco believes that proper conditioning could also be a key. That’s what he’s always been saying, that our athletes lacked the physical strength in our past participation in the SEA Games, Asian Games and the Olympics. Kaya (that’s why) he will be handling that aspect in preparations,” he said.

The Olympic body started the year with a one-day strategic planning session to “map out our objectives for the next four years culminating in the 2015 Olympic Games and the plans to accomplish them.”

It has also tasked first vice president Joey Romasanta, treasurer Julian Camacho, second VP Jeff Tamayo and director Cynthia Carrion to work closely with Philippine Sports commissioners Iggy Clavecilla, Akiko Thomson, Jolly Gomez and Buddy Andrada, respectively, to ensure “smooth working relations with the government body,” particularly with regards to monitoring athletes’ progress.