THE Philippine Sports Commission is bracing for a gruelling year as they are about to meet with officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee to discuss who will be going to the Southeast Asian Games in August.
According to PSC Commissioner Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez, the PSC board that is headed by Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, himself, the three other commissioners, Philippine Institute of Sports (PIS) National Director Mark Velasco and PSC Executive Director Carlo Abarquez will meet with POC’s Tom Carrasco, Raymond Lee, Dave Carter, Robert Mananquil and three NSA heads to finalize the list of athletes and officials who are going to the Kuala Lumpur 2017 Sea Games.
“We will have a meeting in the first week of January in Tagaytay to discuss and approve who will go to the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games. There will be seven of us at PSC, chairman Butch and all the commissioners, ED and PIS ND and seven of them from the POC. We will be preparing for a tough grind because POC wanted all on its list will go, but we being the provider of funds will not allow it, especially, against a non-performing NSA,” Fernandez told Sun.Star Cebu.
Where’s Joy?
Fernandez was the guest of honor of the 84th Founding Anniversary of Doce Pares, which was held last Friday evening at the Doce Pares International headquarters in Sto. Niño Village in Banilad.
POC wanted 600 athletes to compete in Kuala Lumpur as they planned to have a participant in all 406 events from 38 different sports that will be held in Malaysia.
However, the PSC wanted to streamline the number as they set criteriae that includes the past performance of the athletes during the 2015 Sea Games, Rio Olympics, Asian Games and international competitions, to ensure that the athletes they are sending are capable of winning medals for the country.
However, Fernandez noted that on the list of recommendations of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa), the name of Cebuana marathon queen Mary Joy Tabal is not included.
“That is one of my concerns. I would like to find out why Joy has been omitted. Or why she was dismissed from the National Team. Because based on the criteria set by the SEA games 2017 task force, she is very much qualified. She won silver in 2015 SEA Games, ran her first Olympics in Rio and her performance is very much qualified. I hope I can bring justice to her,” added Fernandez.
PSC is hoping to send a lean but mean team as they hope to improve the country’s gold medal haul in the biennial games.