DUE to logistical problems, Filipino rowers will race using borrowed boats in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games rowing meet set to start on May 11 at the Thuy Nguyen Boat Racing Center in the port city of Haiphong.
“We cannot bring any of our boats to Vietnam due to logistical issues because the competition venue is quite far from Hanoi,” Philippine Rowing Association president Pato Gregorio said yesterday in the Philippine Sportswriters Association online forum.
Gregorio said the competition venue is a two-hour drive, or 118 kilometers away from the Vietnamese capital.
“The Philippine Sports Commission informed us last month that we could not bring our boats because the logistics provider could not do it,” he added in the public sports program backed by Milo, the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp, Amelie Hotel and Milo.
National coach Edgar Maerina, who also joined the discussion, said the rowers will need to familiarize themselves fast with the boats that will be loaned by the Vietnamese organizers two days before the start of the competition.
“Anyway, we pray that the borrowed boats we will use will have similar dimensions that we use for our training here,” said Maerina, who recalled this was the same predicament the rowing team encountered during the 2013 Myanmar and 2017 Malaysia SEA Games.
Gregorio said Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the PSC went out of their way so the Pinoy rowers could borrow boats they can use for the competition.
“Vietnam said it would allocate boats for the national team. There would be no conflict and we would like to thank Cong Bambol for personally supporting us so we could use them.
Mahirap naman na manalo sila ng ginto ng walang kalaban,” he said.
The Philippines will field nine men and six women in 13 rowing events that will be held in three days up to May 14, with a one-day respite on May 12 to give way for the formal opening rites at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.
A former national rower himself, Maerina said Tokyo Olympic Games veteran Cris Nievarez remains the country’s brightest gold medal hope in rowing and is expected to go all out to retain his men’s lightweight singles crown.
“Seryoso si Cris sa training kahit na sa pandemic. Binabantayan siya ng mga other countries pero on track siya sa kanyang fighting condition at nakuha na niya ‘yung body weight na kailangan niya. Peaking na siya ngayon,” Maerina said.
Maerina is also pinning his hopes on the veteran pair of Edgar Ilas and Zuriel Sumintac to make waves in the men’s lightweight double sculls.
