PSC COMMISSIONER Ramon Fernandez believes the national athletes can whip themselves back into competitive shape with six months left before the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games get going in May next year.
“I think the remaining six months before the Vietnam SEA Games will be enough for our athletes to train and get back into shape. Puwede na ‘yan,” Fernandez, the national team’s chief of mission, said yesterday.
“It may not like be in 2019 when most of our athletes were able to compete and train abroad extensively before the SEA Games we hosted two years ago, but I believe we still have sufficient time to train for Vietnam next year,” he said.
He noted that some sports like boxing, cycling taekwondo, archery, karate, judo, fencing, rowing, weightlifting, and wrestling were able to have some of their athletes continue regular workouts as early January in the country as they geared for their respective Olympic qualifying competitions.
These disciplines are included in the calendar of the Vietnam Games, which was supposed to be held this month but was postponed to 2022 due to the spike of the COVID-19 cases across the region in the middle of the year.
“These athletes who were able train this year and compete in their respective Olympic qualifiers will likely be the backbone of our national team for Vietnam,” said Fernandez, who is set to meet with the Vietnamese hosts together with the other 10 chiefs of mission of the participating countries next month.
The nine sports mentioned alone accounted for 25 of the 149 gold medals the Philippines garnered in the 2019 Games, which, coupled with the 117 silver and 121 bronze medals, paved the way for the country regaining the overall championship.
