PHILIPPINE Sports Commission (PSC) William Ramirez hopes to learn more from the Chinese formula for sports when he attends the National Games of China later this year.
The Chinese Ministry of Sports invited Ramirez to the games set in September in Tianjin and Luoyang.
The world always watches when China holds its national games because of several potentials for world record breakers. A total of 341 gold medals are staked in 31 sports in the Chinese games, which, like the Olympics, are staged once every four years.
“I am very excited to see, watch and observe how they will stage the games,” said Ramirez, who received the invitation from his Chinese counterpart Gou Zhongwen. The PSC stands as the country’s ministry or department of sports.
The PSC, Ramirez said, would like to pattern the annual Philippine National Games (PNG) with that of China’s.
China finished third at the Rio Olympics with 26 gold, 18 silver and 26 bronze medals. It was their lowest output since the 1996 Atlanta Games (16 gold medals), but still ranked third behind the US and Great Britain.
According to Ramirez, the top achievers in China stand to receive a total of Y500 million or P3.6 billion.
For this year’s PNG, Ramirez said incentives for winning local government units would be doubled to P10 million for first place, P9 million for second and P8 million for third.