Wednesday, December 05, 2007 PSC chair asks for truce
PHILIPPINE Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez called on sports officials to put an end to their bickering on the eve of Team Philippines departure for the 24th Southeast Asian Games set to start Thursday at the King Bhumipol Stadium in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Ramirez expressed disappointment at the recent heated exchange of words between athletics czar Go Teng-Kok and PSC commissioner and deputy chief of mission Richie Garcia over problems on uniforms and equipment, which he said may cause demoralization to the country’s 595 athletes who are going to defend the Sea Games crown.
“I want a truce. This is not the time to argue but to be united for the sake of our athletes who will be defending the Sea Games overall title. I want the spirit of the 2005 Sea Games to be elevated,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez said that the problems of competition uniforms and other equipments have been resolved already so there is no more reason to talk further about it.
Some 165 athletes and officials comprising the bulk of the 874-man RP contingent headed by Chief of Mission and Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella and Ramirez himself will leave today in time for tomorrow’s opening rites.
Among those leaving today are baseball (18), archery (17), athletics (52), judo (5), pencak-silat (18), petanque (9), wrestling (13), women’s basketball (17) and futsal (16).
A total of 121 are already in Thailand as they left yesterday including those in the men’s basketball with 18 members together with swimming (9), water polo (16), athletics (9), billiards and snooker (16), boxing (24), gymnastics (5), lawn tennis (11), beach volleyball (12), wushu (17) and squash (3).
The rest of the delegation numbering about 160, whose events are still scheduled later in the 10-day regional competition, will leave tomorrow. Among them are badminton (6), bowling (16), cycling (16), dancesports (18), fencing (32), golf (12), muay-thai (16), men’s softball (23) women’s softball (21).
It was a bad start for the Filipino shooters as they managed to produce only three silvers and a lone bronze, while host Thailand already has eight gold medals in the medal-rich shooting, which started last Nov. 27 at the Hua Mark Sports Complex in Bangkok.
Ramirez is unfazed by the slow start of the RP shooting team, saying there is still enough time to catch up in their effort to duplicate the feat in 2005, when Team Philippines won the overall crown for the first time with 111 gold medals here.
The PSC spent a total of P100 million for the participation, preparations, uniforms, hotel, food, accommodation and equipment.
“I am reiterating this to our athletes to be No. 1 in the Sea Games because as our government spent this much there is always what we called “Return of Investments,” Ramirez said. (FCC)
