THE Olympic Dream remains on top of the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) priorities amid the Covid-19 pandemic that moved back the Tokyo Olympics to 2021.
“It has been quite a challenge—this pandemic—but we hope to keep our commitment to fund and support our athletes who have shown strong determination and chances of winning our first Olympic gold medal,” PSC Chairman William Ramirez said on Thursday.
Four Filipinos have so far qualified for the Tokyo Games that were postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021—world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo, pole vaulter EJ Obiena and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno.
Several others are still hoping to qualify including women’s world boxing champion Nesthy Petecio and Rio 2016 weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz.
Despite the lockdown and before the imposition of strict quarantine, the PSC said it honored its commitment to national sports associations (NSAs)—particularly those with athletes who could qualify for the Olympics—by releasing P351 million in financial assistance as of June this year.
A total of 53 NSAs—41 regular, four associate and four recognized members of the Philippine Olympic Committee and four non-members—received PSC funds for the first half of the year.
The bulk of the funds when to the allowances of the 1,620-strong national team—athletes and coaches—and to the campaign of the other Tokyo Games hopefuls and continuous training of the four qualified athletes.
“The PSC strives to cover all of its commitments to keep the Olympic gold dream even with a decreased budget,” Ramirez said. “Despite mounting fiscal challenges, we continue to make ends meet to sustain the agency’s support to that dream.”
The enactment of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act I almost depleted the PSC coffers with P596 million from the agency’s National Sports Development Fund and P773 million from General Appropriations Act (GAA) going to the national government’s campaign against the pandemic.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow but we in the PSC still have our obligation and commitment to pursue,” Ramirez said.
PSC records showed that the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association got the most financial support with P20.2 million, followed by the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines with P13 million and the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines with P7.8 million.
Yulo, who is based in Japan, was granted a P3.8-million training fund for the first half of 2020. These covered his living expenses, training and other miscellaneous needs.
The 20-year-old from Leveriza in Malate secured his ticket to the Tokyo Olympics when he won the men’s floor exercise gold medal in the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. The PSC spent P7.6 million for his campaign last year.
Obiena, on the other hand, received P1.3 million for the first half of 2020 which he spent in a world-class pole vault camp in Italy. Last year, the PSC poured P12.5 million for his training and competition.
The boxers, meanwhile, got a total of P5.3 million and the results were Marcial and Magno’s Olympic slots. Besides Petecio, the 2019 campaign in boxing included Riza Pasuit, Carlo Paalam, James Palicte and Ian Clark Bautista.
The PSC allocated a P1.7-million budget for the boxers for their training and competition from January to June this year.
The Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas received a total of P11.2 million, P3.8 million of which were focused on Diaz’s Tokyo Olympics bid covering her foreign coach Kaiwen Gao and her core team composed of a sports science expert, strength and conditioning coach, sports nutritionist and a physical therapist. She is training in Malaysia.
Diaz, however, has yet to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after qualifying tournaments were shuttered by the pandemic.
“We are doing what we can for our national athletes. We want them to stay focused on their goals and to stay positive while aspiring for Olympic glory,” Ramirez said. “We want to remind them that the PSC is always here to help them achieve success in any way that is possible.”