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Thursday, December 23, 2004
Oyson: Banned cyclists may race in 2005 Tour
By Manuel N. Oyson, Jr.
Counter Punch
IN this column last Dec. 11 (“How not to develop sports heroes”) I described as myopic the banning of a number of professional cyclists of the Casino Filipino Trade Team from the qualifying races of the Tour Pilipinas. The reason advanced by Paquito Rivas, president of the Philippine National Cycling Association (PNCA), was to level the playing field and to allow the Tour to maintain its domestic status and cater only to riders who not enjoy the perks enjoyed by the Casino team.
I said then that if I were to subscribe to his reasoning, multi-champions Lance Armstrong of the US and Spain’s Miguel Indurain should not be allowed in the Tour of France to level the playing field. Most of the banned players from the Casino team are Army enlisted men who receive monthly salaries and allowances from their sponsor when they compete abroad. The two-day qualifying races consisting of 214 kilometers were held Dec. 7-8 in Batangas that drew 289 riders.
TOO STRONG. Even Bert Lina, chair of Tour Pilipinas and president of Philippine Cycling Federation (Philcycling), backed Rivas, who is the winner of the 1989 Tour. Lina reasoned that “it was a matter of making sure that the bigger flocks benefit from our endeavor.” He also explained that the Trade Team riders were well taken care of by their managers and the Tour would only want to tend to those who do not get the same privilege. I suggested that he should also give monthly salaries and allowances to his own Air21 if they compete abroad that would allow them to level the playing field.
To put it simply, the banned cyclists were “too strong” owing to their international experience in international races sponsored by the Union Cycliste International, the world governing body for cycling. They have just found a new ally in Eric Buhain, the new chairman of the Games and Amusements Board, which supervises all professional sports in the country, including professional cycling. He told a sportswriters in a forum in Manila that Casino Trade Team riders should not have been discriminated or deprived of a chance of competing in the qualifying race of the 2005 Tour three weeks ago.
EXPERIENCE. Buhain said that if you want to excel in sport “I believe that you have to start them young. Our local riders won’t really know how good they are unless they compete against the best.” The public would also be deprived from seeing their cycling idols from competing in the event. The new GAB chief said what the Tour organizers did was similar to his own experience when then 14-years-old and fresh from a record-breaking stint abroad, he was excluded from the Palarong Pambansa because organizers then told him that he was too strong for the rest of the field.
In short, Buhain expressed that the participation of Pagcor Casino Trade Team in the 2005 Tour Pilipinas would help uplift the sport of cycling in the country. I said it many times before and I say it again, that in other sports where the Filipino can possibly be at par with the rest of the world because of his size such as in boxing, badminton, table tennis, football, bowling and cycling, there is not enough funding and dedication on the part of those who are supposed to be leaders in their respective turfs.
NO DIRECTION. We have sports leaders who have no direction but only love to warm their seats and enjoy the perks and fringe benefits that go with the position, including frequent travels at the tip of a hat. The Philippine Star reported that many sponsors that eye the Tour Pilipinas as a possible marketing vehicle would also like the strongest and the best competing in the event. Buhain has yet to approve the riders’ appeal. The affected riders incidentally have been removed from the national training pool preparing for the SEA Games 2005 in Manila.
They have trained for almost a year for the country’s biggest and most respected cycling race. They include former national riders Victor Espiritu, Lloyd Lucien Reynante, Rhyan Taguilig, Albert Primero, Ronald Gorantes, Tomas Martinez, Alfie Catalan, Joel Calderon and Bernard Luzon.
Taguilig is the defending Tour champion. Espiritu won the Tour in 1996 and won a silver medal in the time trials in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in 2003. Lloyd is the son of two-time Tour champion Manuel Reynante. There is a dark cloud looming ahead, though. Noted Daily Inquirer sports columnist Recah Trinidad warned yesterday that the Tour may not be held this summer because of lack of funds.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You do not make champions if you restrict them from competing in an open tournament as in cycling.” – Counterpunch (Dec. 11, 2004)
(e-mail: mno@sunstar.com.ph)
(December 23, 2004 issue)
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