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By Ruben Manahan IV, Researcher
AS far the Philippine Sports
Commission is concerned, only 500 athletes will go to Thailand.
PSC Commissioner Ritchie Garcia
said on Thursday that the agency has allocated only P50 million
which is enough to cover the participation of 500 athletes in the
forthcoming Southeast Asian Games.
“The P50-million budget, in my
opinion, is big enough. That is the only money we can give,” said
Garcia, who estimated the cost per athlete at around P70,000 to
P75,000.
Besides P50 million, the PSC has
allotted P25 million for equipment and another P12 million for the
tracksuits.
The SEA Games Task Force, which
Garcia co-chairs with wushu’s Julian Camacho, had earlier approved
482 athletes, most of them medalists in the 2005 Manila SEAG and
last year’s Doha Asian Games.
But 127 athletes are still
appealing for inclusion in the Thailand trip and this will be
tackled in a meeting scheduled on August 14.
“The Task Force has set special
qualifications only for measurable sports like athletics, swimming
and weightlifting. But for subjective sports, the athletes must win
a medal in Southeast Asian-level tournaments,” explained Garcia.
Garcia also mentioned the
women’s basketball team which must bring home a medal from the
Seaba tournament next month to join the SEAG-bound delegation.
“We hope to come up with the
final composition of the RP contingent by next month,” said
Garcia. The deadline of submission of entry by name to the Thailand
SEAG Organizing Committee is on October 8.
Meanwhile, Garcia and POC
president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco will fly to China on August
16.
Garcia will visit the 20 Filipino
athletes in the New International Training Center in Guangzhou while
Cojuango will attend the World Bowling Congress in Beijing.
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