PH surfers favored

INDONESIA’S coach sees the Philippines as the favorite in the surfing competition of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games being held in San Juan, La Union.

Tip Noventin, Indonesian head coach, said host Philippines has a good chance of winning gold medals in the event with their homecourt advantage.

“Our strongest opponent is the Philippines because they know the beach break, home break, point break and that’s really an advantage,” added Noventin.

Four golds, four silvers, and eight bronze medals are at stake during the competition by surfers coming from Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Surfers will compete in men’s longboard, men’s shortboard, women’s longboard, and women’s shortboard.

“On the level of performance, I think Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines is strong,” added Noventin.

The qualifying rounds of the competition started on Monday morning.

The Indonesian coach, meanwhile, lauded organizers of the SEA Games.

“We had no problem, food is good, transportation, security, accommodation has been really well,” quipped Noventin.

Meanwhile, the Sports Industry Awards Asia has recognized the Philippine Southeast Asia Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) for its achievement in organizing the best SEA Games citing their efforts in staging world class opening ceremonies and organizing 56 sports and 530 events.

The SPIA Asia Awards have become the most credible awards platform in Asia having focused on recognizing and celebrating the achievements of the Asian Sports Industry for the past years.

As the Asia’s leading sports business conference and awards platform, SPIA Asia recognizes and celebrates Asia’s Top 10 in 25 distinct awards categories including the Asia’s Best Sportsman and Asia’s Best Sports Woman category, with Gold, Silver, and Bronze being awarded to the best performers.

SPIA CEO Eric Gottschalk personally handed the award to Phisgoc chairman Alan Peter Cayetano and chief operating officer Ramon Suzara during the conference organized by SPIA Asia in Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Phisgoc chief operating officer Ramon Suzara expressed his gratitude to the SPIA and stressed that the recognition will inspire the PHISGOC workforce to work harder and do better in the remaining days of the biennial meet.

After 14 years, the Philippines is hosting the 30th edition of South East Asian Games. (Roderick Osis)