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By Emil C. Noguera, Correspondent
ORGANIZERS of this year’s Palarong Pambansa
assured on Sunday that all venues would be ready at the end of
March.
Philippine Sports Commission Commissioner Eric
Loretizo said he was given the assurance by the local government of
Puerto Princesa that all venues will be completed before the opening
of the tournament.
“Everything will be ready, from the venues to
the safety of all the participants,” said Loretizo, who is closely
coordinating with officials from the Department of Education and
Puerto Princesa regarding the Palaro.
“The rubberized tartan for the track oval was
already installed. The same venue will also be used in their
regional qualifying,” added Loretizo, who made an ocular
inspection of the venues last week.
Under construction are the main stadium and
football field.
Loretizo said the Philippine Center for Sports
Medicine would provide medical assistance such as doping and
implementing precautionary measures on possible cases of heatstroke.
It will be recalled that two officials died
while over a hundred athletes collapsed due to hot weather during
last year’s Palaro held in Koronadal, South Cotabato.
“We want to prevent what happened last year.
We want to ensure the safety of the athletes, officials and
spectators by giving them advisories before the tournament
starts,” said Loretizo.
More than 6,000 athletes from 17 regions are
competing in arnis, basketball, lawn tennis, athletics, swimming,
badminton, baseball, chess, gymnastics, table tennis, taekwondo,
volleyball, football, boxing, sipa, softball and sepak takraw in the
annual Palaro scheduled April 20 to 26.
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