Add those numbers and Team Philippines would be a 386-strong delegation that would compete in 22 of the 25 sports on the Laos program. The 25-sports program is conspicuously a far cry from the 40 or more sports that were on the programs of the 2005 (Philippines) and 2007 (Thailand) editions. Brunei played host for the first time in 1999 and also had 22 on its program.

Also, the POC has added four more athletes on the roster, which is topped by 34 athletes in aquatics (16 swimming, 13 water polo and five diving) and 20 in athletics.

Taekwondo ranked third with 16 jins, followed by billiards and snookers with 15 and sepak takraw with 14. Cycling has 13 riders, judo, petanque, shooting and wrestling 11 each and boxing 10.

Rounding out the delegation are archery (9), muay (9), wushu (9), beach volleyball (8), karatedo (8), lawn tennis (8), weightlifting (8), golf (7), pencak silat (7), table tennis (7) and badminton (5).

The POC list is almost a hundred more than the 153 athletes the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has earlier pledged to fund. The POC has earlier announced it would fund the participation of the athletes that are not on the PSC list.

“This list supersedes [any] lists previously circulated by unauthorized parties, and is the final POC Family List composed of competitors [athletes and coaches], technical officials [judges and referees] and athlete support staff [medical, administration, finance, etc.] that will be participating in this years’ SEA Games,” said POC deputy secretary-general Mark Joseph in an e-mail.

The Philippines will try to improve on its sixth-place finish in 2007 in Nakhon Ratchasima (Thailand) where 620 athletes won 42 gold medals. Reuben Terrado