Campo happy ‘to be home in one piece’

He might have missed celebrating his 80th birthday here but FIDE honorary president Florencio Campomanes was just as happy to be back home.

"I’m still in one piece, which makes me either a cat or a bionic man," said Campomanes, who arrived Saturday from Antalya, Turkey where he sustained injuries in a car accident.

From the airport, the former FIDE president (1982-1995) was brought to the Asian Hospital in Alabang but was transferred to the Makati Medical Center yesterday upon the advice of his doctor Bienvenido Altanese.

"My principal doctor wants me to transfer there because it would be more convenient for him," said Campomanes.

Campomanes celebrated his 80th birthday in his hospital bed in Antalya along with some prominent chess friends, including Turkish Chess Federation president Ali Yazici, FIDE rating specialist Toti Abundo, Georgian Zurab and Marina Azmaiprashvili and Greek Georgios Makropoulos.

He, however, said he has no plans celebrating it again here.

"Why should I be celebrating, I’ve done the celebrating of the reconfirmation of my already proven life in Turkey," he said.

Campomanes tried to fathom his close brush with death.

"I was two inches from total death, I really don’t know why I’m still alive," he said. "Maybe I still have something to do that is important and valuable to the country." – Joey Villar