BY FRANK CALAPRE CORRESPONDENT

PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman Harry Angping assured would be gold medalists in the 25th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will be retained in the RP national pool next year.

Despite the complete overhauling of the RP pool after the SEA Games, Angping said those who will be classified in the class-A level will receive P25,000 to P30,000 a month.

“This is to clarify insinuations that all of you will be removed. I assure you that all gold medalists will be our priority for inclusion in the next Asian Games,” said Angping during the send-off ceremony for the 153 athletes the Sports commission is supporting.

He also said that preparations for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhuo, China will start early, adding he would like to win at least 12 golds in the 44-nation meet which has been dominated by China for decades.

Angping said that in its effort to raise the level of motivation for the Asiad to a higher level, the Sports commission promised each gold medalist a P1-million reward.

“Apart from the P500,000 assured through the goverment’s Incentive Act, the PSC will provide another P500,000 which would make a gold medal in the Asian Games worth P1 million,” added Angping.

Angping asked all the 153 athletes present in the ceremony to make projections on the number of golds they are going to bring home from Vientiane, Laos.

The total number of golds predicted by the athletes themselves went as high as 64 golds with 10 from boxing, nine from billiards, seven from athletics, five apiece from diving and tae kwon do, four each from judo and lawn tennis, three each from karatedo, weighlifting and wushu and two each from archery, petanque, sepak-takraw, shooting and wrestling.

He reminded the athletes that the 64-gold projection is 17 percent of the 353 golds at stake in 28 sports disciplines to be contested in Laos. The Philippines, which finished sixth place with 42 golds in the 2007 SEA Games, will participate in 24 events.