EVEN with the spike of COVID cases in Vietnam, national team chief of mission and PSC Commissioner Ramon Fernandez will leave for the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on March 17 to inspect the venues for the Vietnam SEA Games in May.
Fernandez will travel with triathlon chief Tom Carrasco, rollersports head Carl Sambrado, one of his deputies, and Philippine Olympic Committee staff member Jared Tolentino for a three-day site inspection together with the other delegation chiefs of the 11 nations vying in the meet.
He said they will have a briefing with the Vietnamese hosts on March 18 followed by a visit to the arenas in Hanoi and neighboring areas during the first actual meeting among the contingent heads following their online gathering last January.
The meeting follows the deadline set by the host country to submit the national team rosters by March 13.
The POC announced last week that the country will field 656 athletes in 39 of the 40 disciplines of the pandemic-delayed meet set May 12 to 23. The meet was supposed to be held last November until Vietnam requested and won approval to postpone the Games due to the surge of COVID cases in the country.
