MANILA -- The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), not losing sight of its "golden dreams," has been meeting with National Sports Associations (NSAs) since Monday, July 20, to discuss training resumption guidelines for Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympic Games hopefuls and qualifiers.
Health professionals from the PSC-MSAS (Medical Scientific Athletes Services) unit started meeting NSAs on July 21 to discuss updated protocol and minimum health standards of training venues with each concerned NSA. The meetings are scheduled until July 29.
“The PSC recognizes that our Olympic hopefuls need to maintain momentum and they do that by going back to focused training,” explained National Training Director Marc Velasco.
Secretary-General Lawyer Edwin Gastanes represented the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) during the meetings with Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) Secretary-General Ed Picson, Philippine Fencing Association (PFA) President Richard Gomez, and Secretary-General Jercyl Lerin from the Philippine Rowing Association (PRA).
NSA officials from World Archery Philippines, Inc represented by Secretary-General Rosendo Sombrio, lawyer Billy Sumagui, secretary-general of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines, director for operations Butch Antonio and Coach Jong Uichico of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) were all in the July 22 discussion.
Meeting with Philippine Judo Federation President Dave Carter and Gymnastics Association of the Philippines President Cynthia Carrion-Norton on July 23 followed.
Headed by MSAS’ Dr. Randolph Molo, meetings with NSA officials from the National Association of Golf Philippines and Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation, Inc. were held on July 24. Triathlon and skateboarding meetings will be held on July 27 while table tennis, and taekwondo on July 28, and canoe-kayak, weightlifting, and wrestling on July 29.
“This is to brief them on how they will formulate their updated protocol. This is also for submission to the IATF to allow Olympic qualifying sports to start training,” said Velasco.
The PSC-MSAS will consolidate proposals from the sports bodies concerning training resumption, especially for Olympic sports, and submit a recommendation to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for approval. Velasco underscored that "the IATF is always the last say and that these will just be recommendations."
PSC-MSAS, headed by Dr. Molo (orthopedic), is composed of health professionals Dr. Janis Ann Espino-De Vera (orthopedic), Dr. Charles Martin Corpuz (family medicine), Dr. Joji Quintos (orthopedic) Dr. Pilar Elena Villanueva (family medicine), Dr. Victor Gaddi (orthopedic), Dr. Arsenio Lantin (family medicine), Dr. William Occidental (family medicine), Dr. Raul Alcantara (family medicine) and Abigail Rivera.