Friday, July 27, 2007 Philcycling reconsiders, will let Surban race
CEBUANO mountain bike stalwart Niño Surban might have lost his slot in the national mountain bike team but he will still represent the country in the Asian Mountain Bike Championships next month in Beijing, China.
Danao City Sports Commission head Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez confirmed yesterday that Philippine Cycling Federation head Bert Lina is allowing Surban to compete.
Aside from this, Surban will also be given a slot as a reserve for this December’s Southeast Asian Games.
“We are going to China. They have agreed,” Rodriguez told Sun.Star after yesterday’s meeting with Lina in Manila.
Surban was dropped from the roster of the RP team after deciding not to relocate to Manila to train. He chose to continue his training in Danao City, where his mountain biking skills were honed.
“Niño is just a victim of circumstance. We are all aware of what he is capable of achieving. Besides, it’s not like he made a huge violation in the team. He is a young, new dad and we have to respect that decision for him to stay in Cebu,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez had already expected eyebrows to raise, but said that Surban, his protégé, is worth fighting for.
Reason
“They (RP team coaches) won when they dropped him from the RP team, but Niño won this time.”
“The reason why I fought for Niño is, as what I always say, the potential that he has. Based on the results of the Asian championships last year, he finished 8th among Asian nations, but first among Southeast Asian countries. He even beat the Sea Games gold medalist. Eboy (Eusebio Quiñones) meanwhile, finished only at a distant 13th place last year,” Rodriguez said.
Automatic
Quiñones is currently the rated player in the RP team and is the only one given automatic slot to the Asian championships. The remaining two slots were raffled off through a series of races.
Aside from this, Rodriguez also noted that Surban topped the Padyak Pinoy qualifier in Cebu. Surban, however, skipped this to compete in another race in Australia, where he won a gold and a bronze medal.
Before leaving for the US earlier this month, Rodriguez already prepared a letter to Lina asking him to reconsider.
“I assured him that we have no other intention but to play for the Philippine flag,” Rodriguez said.
Since Philcycling is on a tight budget and could only provide for a certain number of athletes, Rodriguez will be bankrolling for Surban’s participation.
Surban will be joining the rest of the team, Alvin Benosa, Kennedy Guinoo for the cross country event with another Cebuana Baby Maritess Bitbit, competing in the distaff side. Taking part in the downhill competition is Joey Barba. (MCB)
