IN a great boost and convenience to para athletes, the 12th Cambodia Asean Para Games will have a main Games Village at the Morodok Techno National Sports Complex in the capital of Phnom Penh where all of the 13 sports in the regional meet will be held.
“The participating para athletes will have a Games Village at the Morodok Techno National Sports Complex so they won’t have to travel far to their respective venues,” PSC Commissioner Walter Torres said.
Philippine Paralympic Committee president Mike Barredo reappointed Torres, the former PPC secretary general, as the national team chief of mission of the national Para Games contingent after serving in the same capacity in the 11th Asean Para Games last year in Surakarta, Indonesia.
Barredo, Torres and deputy chief of mission Irene Soriano-Remo attended the first meeting of the chiefs of mission for the 12th Cambodia Asean Para Games held last March 29 to 31 in the Cambodian capital.
Torres said there will be 13 regular sports and one demo, e-sport (mobile video games), in the sportsfest’s calendar of disciplines, with the country not taking part in five-a-side blind football.
The national para athletes will compete in athletics, badminton boccia, chess, judo, table tennis, wheelchair basketball, swimming, table tennis, power lifting and cerebal palsy football.
To cite the proximity of the competition venues, Garcia said table tennis and badminton share one entrance within the complex, built at a cost of $200 million (roughly P10.9 billion).
The facility features the 60,000-seat Morodok Techno National Stadium where the 11-nation meet will formally open on June 3.
Torres said the five-man national esport squad will be playing Mobile Legends Bangbang, with its classification similar to what is being done for chess, which depends on the level of physical impairment.
A total of 78 gold medals will be disputed in the Games, adding the Philippines will try to surpass its previous all-time best tally of 28 gold, 30 silver and 46 bronzes, good for fifth overall, in the Surakarta Games last year.
Among the standouts of the national squad last year were chess player FIDE Master Sander Severino and swimmer Ariel Alegarbes, who bagged three golds apiece.
Torres said the PSC is planning to send the para contingent on a chartered flight as early as May 31.
