RP officials trade barbs on 2005 SEA Games

Three days after its war of words with the Philippine Sports Commission, the leadership of the Philippine Olympic Committee came under siege from its own ranks as a disgruntled lawn tennis official lamented the exclusion of tennis in the Manila 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

Tennis chief Salvador Andrada, a former top POC official, charged POC president Celso Dayrit for using his positions in the POC, the PHILSOC, the SEAG Federation Council and the Olympic Council of Asia "for his personal interests."

He demanded that Dayrit resigned his post and allowed "all the true sportsmen to work for the success of the 2005 Southeast Asian Games."

"He (Dayrit) is doing a big disservice to the country by picking up a fight with his fellow sports officials. His antagonistic stance against the PSC and even his fellow officials in the POC is not helping RP sports and our hosting of the SEA Games."

Andrada unleashed his barbs agains the POC chief after tennis failed to muster the required number of votes from the SEAGFC for inclusion in the 2005 SEA Games calendar.

"Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam voted for the inclusion of tennis. But Dayrit did not endorse tennis. As president of the SEA Games Federation, he’s powerful. But he didn’t do anything."

In a statement, Dayrit said the Philippines also endorsed the sport, but it still lacked two more votes from the 11-member council to get included in the SEA Games.

Gus Villanueva, spokesman of the POC, said there is still a chance tennis could make the 2005 SEAG when the SEAGF finalizes the list in October.

"I’m doing my job and I’ve done a lot of good things for the country, sila ba meron? Why’ don’t they substantiate their charges. We have a great task ahead for everybody so we have to set aside these petty issues," Dayrit said.

Thailand, whose no-nonsense training program has produced world No. 12 Paradorn and Thamarine Thanasugarn, is favored to sweep all gold medals in the SEAG with Indonesia looming as the only worthy contender.

Observers said Philippine tennis has been in doldrums since the glory days of Felix Barrientos and Roland So. A testament to the sport’s decline is the poor performance of the Philipines in past SEA Games and its relegation to Group 2 after its loss to China in the recent Davis Cup.

Andrada also charged that Dayrit "is just playing politics" by refusing to allow the PSC, as the government arm in RP sports, to play a major role in the SEA Games preparation and for not backing the inclusion of sports headed by his perceived "enemies".