BY FRANK CALAPRE, CORRESPONDENT

WITH barely a month left before the 25th Southeast Asian Games, anxieties and anguish cause by uncertainties over their inclusion in the RP team is turning out to be the biggest obstacle that the country’s more than 300 athletes are facing.

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) already released the list of 153 athletes it will fund for the biennial meet, but at least five of them were not included in the 251 names submitted by the Philippine Olympic Committee for accreditation with the Laos Sea Games Organizing Committee in late October.

Among the five are Josefina Maat of sepak takraw, Alvin Aragon of wrestling and the three-man cycling team of Eleazar Barba, Victor Espirito and Nino Surban.

A reliable source said the five athletes can still be added to the RP delegation’s list during the coaches-managers meeting some two days before the actual competition starts.

“In the case of cycling, it will be up to the International Cycling Federation on whether our cyclists will be allowed to compete or not,” said Sports commission Chairman Harry Angping.

He assured funding for the 153 athletes and 47 officials but denied backing the rest of the 98 athletes and 125 officials added by the Olympic committee because they do not meet the agreed “gold-silver” criteria.

Angping admitted the anguish among the athletes is caused by the uncertainty on whether they can participate or not in the biennial meet, which starts on December 9 in Vientiane, Laos.

“You just could imagine the anxieties of the athletes now that they are still here. And when they are there already, they may be too exhausted [already],” he said.

RP Chief of Mission Mario Tanchanco formally submitted an official letter to the Sports commission on November 3 asking for financial support to cover airfare, billeting and allowances of the 251 athletes and 135 officials.

However, Angping said that for the first time since 1991, no PSC official or personnel was invited by the Sports commission to join the RP contingent.

The absence of an invitation, he said can be interpreted that the government, which is spending hundred of millions for the training and participation of the Filipino athletes, is not welcome in the regional meet.

“I will not be sending a staff or personnel to go there in Laos. The disbursement for the athletes will be done before their departure here,” stressed Angping.