IF everything falls into place, the Philippine Sports Commission is keen on having all the national athletes competing in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May next year to start their respective bubble training on Jan. 10, 2021, according to Commissioner Ramon Fernandez.
Fernandez, the chief of mission of the national contingent, said yesterday the plan was discussed during the PSC board meeting last Wednesday presided over by Chairman Butch Ramirez.
He added this would largely hinge on the government sports agency’s request of P900 million for its allocation in the General Appropriations Act for 2022 and the availability of its major sports facilities such as the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and Philsports Complex.
Both complexes were hardly used for the training of the national athletes in nearly two years because they were turned into quarantine facilities for COVID-19.
But with the marked decline in infections over the past months and eased restrictions, both facilities are expected to be turned over back to the PSC for the athletes’ use, Fernandez said.
Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, a House deputy speaker, had earlier announced the House had agreed to include P650 million in the national budget for the country’s participation in major meets next year such as the Vietnam Games and Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
The POC has already identified over 600 athletes in 39 of the 40 sports calendared for the rescheduled regional meet who need to have intensive training and give the country a respectable showing. The country captured the overall crown in the 2019 SEA Games with 149 gold, 117 silver and 117 bronze medals.
With the support of the PSC, some national athletes have begun their actual workouts, with boxing and karate athletes training at the PSC training facility inside the Teacher Camp in Baguio while track and field athletes are working out at the Baguio Athletic Bowl near Burnham Park.
“With the SEA Games drawing near it would be unwise for our national athletes to have their training disrupted, so the board wants a short Christmas break for them all before resuming their workouts as soon as possible next year,” Fernandez said.
He added the PSC board recommended that the national teams in the 39 disciplines be retained and not disbanded at the end of 2021 as has been the usual practice in the previous years.
Fernandez said he is scheduled to meet with Tolentino on Nov. 16 to discuss the national team’s SEA Games preparations for the first chief of mission meeting among the 11 participating countries set in mid-December.
The Vietnamese hosts have required the National Olympic Committees to submit their respective entries by number in January.
