MANILA, Philippines - It’s quite ironic that cycling, the sport that delivered the lone gold medal for the Philippines in the Incheon Asian Games, is not in the Philippine Sports Commission’s priority list.
Two years ago, President Aquino ordered the government sports agency to come up with a list of sports and athletes to be placed under a special priority program.
The President felt that the PSC must make the most of its very limited budget, and spend them mostly on sports where Filipinos have bigger chances of winning in the international arena.
The PSC came up with 10 sports and identified close to 150 athletes. Most of these athletes receive monthly allowances of P40,000 while others get as low as P6,000.
Those placed under the priority program were boxing, taekwondo, athletics, swimming, wushu, archery, wrestling, bowling, weightlifting and billiards.
Two of them, however, have been taken off the list after failing to deliver and live up to expectations. They are swimming and weightlifting.
“Now, can we ask to be considered or included as a priority sport?” asked Philcycling president and Cavite (District 7) Representative Abraham Tolentino yesterday.
“We’re not telling the PSC to include cycling as a priority sport. We are just asking if we can be considered. What is the criteria?” he added.
Fil-American BMX rider Daniel Caluag won the gold medal in Incheon. That proved to be the only gold for the 150 Filipinos that participated in this year’s Asian Games.
The only time the Philippines failed to win any gold medal in the Asian Games was in 1974 in Tehran. Caluag’s victory got the country out of that sticky situation.
If included as a priority sports, Tolentino hopes to hire a foreign coach for each of the cycling events like road racing, velodrome racing, mountain bike and BMX.
Caluag had his own foreign coach, fellow Fil-American Gregory Romero. Tolentino thanked the MVP Group, Air 21 and LBC for the support.
“We also hope to get help in putting up a BMX track. We don’t have any in the country when Thailand has three. Singapore, Myanmar and Indonesia also have theirs,” said Tolentino.