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PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez
said on Wednesday that the government agency is willing to fund the
training of the RP cycling team for the 2012 London Olympics.
Ramirez was impressed with the
Filipino riders’ recent success in the 24th Southeast Asian Games
in Thailand where they won four gold medals.
He told officials of PhilCycling,
the national federation for the sport headed by Bert Lina, that it
is imperative for the cyclists to take advantage of the
morale-boosting performance in the SEA Games.
Initially, the elite preparation
would be focused on the Asian championships, then to the World Cup
and World Championships, and eventually in the Olympics of 2012.
Those four golds were a marked
improvement from the two won in the 2005 Philippine Games. In 2003
in Vietnam, the year Lina took over as PhilCycling president, the
country won only one gold.
Cycling gave the Philippines its
first medal in the biennial meet courtesy of Joey Barba in mountain
bike’s men’s downhill. Victor Espiritu also won in men’s
points race and Alfie Catalan in men’s individual pursuit of track
and Baby Marites Bitbit, an enlisted personnel of the Army’s
Special Operations Command at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, in
women’s massed start of road race.
In Nakhon Ratchasima, where most
of the sports events were held, cycling was the second top performer
after swimming, which had eight gold medals with Miguel Molina, with
his four gold medals, emerging as the Games’ Male Most Valuable
Player, and Daniel Coackley setting a new men’s 50 meters
freestyle record.
Eusebio Quiñones earned a silver
medal in mountain bike’s men’s cross-country and Bitbit clinched
two bronze medals in road’s individual time trial and mountain
bike’s cross-country. The other bronze winners for the Philippines
were Niño Surban in mountain bike’s cross-country and Jan Paul
Morales in men’s 1-kilo and Catalan, Paterno Curtan Jr., Ronald
Gorantes and Arnold Marcelo in men’s individual pursuit of track.
Earning slots to the Olympics in
cycling is expensive and tedious. For a rider to qualify, he or she
must compete in as many UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) races
which are particularly staged in Europe and a few in Australia. The
rider earn UCI points in every race he or she takes part in,
regardless of how he or she finishes in a race.
But to modestly figure in these
UCI races, a rider must first undergo elite training in UCI training
centers that are located in Europe (specifically at the UCI World
Cycling Center in Aigle, Switzerland), Melbourne and Sydney in
Australia and in Asia, in Japan.
Malaysian and Indonesian riders
did well in the track events of the SEA Games because its riders
trained in Australia and Switzerland. Malaysia and Indonesia won
four golds out of the 11 offered in track, while Indonesia has one
strong female mountain bike rider who regularly campaigns in Europe.
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