MANILA—The Philippine Sports Commission excluded the national training pool from participating in the 2015 Philippine National Games Luzon Leg on July 2 to 6 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila.
PSC project director Atty. Ma. Fe Alano said that the purpose of disqualifying members of the national team, who are receiving allowances from the PSC, is to discover new talents.
“We want new talents to shine that’s why hindi na qualified ‘yung mga national athletes,” said Alan.
She cited the case of Marella Salamat who won the gold medal in cycling’s women Individual Time Trial event of the recent 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore as among the products of the annual PNG in 2013.
This year’s edition will start with the staging of the Luzon qualifying leg, which will also be held at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City and at the Marikina Sports Center.
The Mindanao leg will be held in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur on Sept. 10-14, followed by the Visayas leg in Antique from Nov. 10 to 14. The multi-event meet culminates in a National Championship to be held in Pangasinan tentatively set February 2016.
A total of 23 sports disciplines will be contested in the meet, mostly sports included in the Southeast Asian Games. The PSC allotted some P20 million for the nationwide competitions.
“(PSC) chairman (Richie Garcia) opted to include arnis in the calendar of events since it is our national sport, so we have to support it,” said Alano.