THE Philippine Sports Commission will build a new P100 million seven-story dormitory and training venue for national athletes inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex starting in August, according to the PSC chairman Richard Bachmann.
“We have already made the preliminary requirements like soil testing and we hope to have the groundbreaking of the new building in August,” Bachmann said yesterday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the PSC conference room.
He said the site of the new infrastructure will be where the pencak silat and boxing gyms now stand beside the Teofilo Yldefonso Swimming Center and across the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
“The first six floors will be for national athletes while the sixth and seventh floors will be the training venues for boxing and pencak silat, respectively,” Bachmann said.
He said he attended the World Anti-Doping Agency conference for sports ministers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan two weeks ago and now better understands the importance of anti-doping among athletes.
“We have already made our recommendation to the Office of the President and recommended that the present four PHI-NADO personnel be expanded to 14 and the budget from P10 million to P40 million,” Bachmann bared.
“We accepted the request of Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron to host the Batang Pinoy National Games because the city is also hosting the BIMP-EAGA Games so we won’t have to move our equipment somewhere else,” he said.
He added that 30 sports will be staged in the age-group meet, among them the centerpiece events of athletics and swimming, archery, arnis, badminton, basketball 3×3, beach volleyball, breaking, boxing, dancesport, futsal, gymnastics, jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, kickboxing, kurash, lawn tennis, muay thai, obstacle course, pencak silat, sepak takraw, lawn tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.
