AFTER more than two years of waiting, Karate Pilipinas Sports Foundation Inc. president Ricky Lim is relieved that his sports association was finally recognized as a regular member by the Philippine Olympic Committee during its first online general assembly meeting last Saturday.
But it nearly didn’t happen, Lim said, as he bared the events that transpired during the meeting that led to the recognition of the KPSFI, which was accredited by the World Karate Federation during its congress at its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain in April 2018.
At the same time, the WKF expelled the Philippine Karatedo Federation, the previous NSA for the sport, which got embroiled in a financial mess involving the allowances of national athletes during their European training stint before the 2017 Malaysian Southeast Asian Games.
The POC requires a National Sports Association to be recognized by the international federation affiliated with the International Olympic Committee before it can be formally admitted into the rolls of the local Olympic body.
Following due process, golf secretary general Bones Floro, the POC membership committee chairman, first made the motion to expel the PKF, which was approved by the general assembly, Lim recalled.
Floro, however, overlooked what should have been his next move, a separate motion to the body recognizing KPSFI’s regular membership, something that the Dance Sport Council of the Philippines led by Becky Garcia had no problem in securing, according to Lim.
The karate chief was grateful that wushu secretary general and POC treasurer Julian Camacho called the body’s attention to the oversight that led to the KPSFI being recognized as a regular member.
“I didn’t expect the motion to come from sir Julian, who is usually quiet, so I was pleasantly surprised by his gesture,” Lim said, “kaya maraming pasasalamat ko sa kanya.”
With the POC recognition sealed and delivered, he said his next move is how locally-based national athletes out to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games next year could resume actual training.
Among them are 30th SEA Games gold medalist Jaimie Christine Lim and bronze medalist Sharief Afif.
Two other Olympic hopefuls, Filipino-Japanese and SEA Games gold medalist Junna Tsukii and Fil-Am Joanne Orbon, have resumed actual workouts in Japan and US, respectively, he said.