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FILIPINO
officials will strongly lobby for the inclusion of 24
events—all gold medal potentials for Team Philippines—in
the 24th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in tomorrow’s SEAG
Federation Council meeting in Bangkok.
The host
Thais scrapped 24 events from the 2005 Philippine SEAG
roster, fearing these would imperil their bid to regain
the overall title from the Filipinos.
 Attending the meeting are Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)
president Jose Peping Cojuangco and SEAG Task Force
cochairmen Ritchie Garcia and Julian Camacho, POC
secretary-general Steve Hontiveros, fencing chief Celso
Dayrit and chief of mission Monico Puentevella.
Scrapped
by the Thais are the women’s one-meter springboard in
diving; women’s lightweight in boxing; women’s doubles
in guangshou and the 42 kgs, 52 kgs and 70 kgs in
sanshou in wushu; the 1,000 meters and 10- and 20-a-side
in men’s and women’s traditional boat race; and the
men’s 120 kgs and 96 kgs in wrestling.
Also
dropped were the 15-ball singles, 15-ball doubles,
9-ball doubles and 8-ball doubles in men’s billiards;
men and women’s anyo two-stick and full contact in arnis;
men’s three-meter synchronize springboard in diving;
bantamweight and welterweight in bodybuilding; and
practical shotgun semiautomatic in shooting.
“If we
fail to lobby all these events, our chances to retain
the title are slim. Malaking bagay din itong mga
events na nawala because we are dominant in
them,” said Garcia, also the deputy chief of mission for
the December 6 to 16 SEAG.
Garcia
said the result of the meeting will also determine how
many athletes, coaches and officials would make up Team
Philippines.
The
Philippine Sports Commission, meanwhile, assured it will
handle the training and preparation of eight sports the
First Gentleman Foundation of Atty. Jose Miguel Arroyo
would no longer be supporting for the Beijing Olympics
bid.
These
sports are athletics, swimming, gymnastics, rowing,
weightlifting, archery, equestrian and beach volleyball.
Also,
the PSC assured a number of the country’s topnotch
athletes will fly to China starting next week for a
high-level training aimed at qualifying for the Beijing
Games, and eventually, for an Olympic gold medal. |
