PSC to fund other Olympic aspirants

The Philippine Sports Commission is committed to fund the training and stints of the national athletes not included in the roster of Olympic hopefuls to be financed by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo as long as they make the grade for the Beijing Games.

“Raising money for the Olympics is one thing, qualifying is another,” said PSC chair William “Butch” Ramirez. “If they qualify, I’m committed to support them, it’s my duty.”

Ramirez said Wednesday a total of 31 athletes and 12 coaches will be given funding for their Olympic training through the First Gentleman Foundation as the country braced for its most ambitious program to claim the first ever Olympic gold in Beijing next year.

Those in the roster will come from boxing with seven slots, taekwondo (6), wushu (6), diving (6), shooting (2), fencing (2) and lawn tennis (2).

However, the PSC said that other athletes who have the potential to earn Olympic berths – particularly those from archery, weightlifting, rowing, equestrian, beach volleyball and badminton – will be given assistance by the sports agency.

But athletes from archery, weightlifting, rowing and equestrian, will be provided short-term international training since they will be part of the first wave of Filipino bets scheduled to leave for China for intensive training on June 8.

Two other fronts where the Philippines may earn slots for the Beijing Games are in beach volleyball through Fil-Ams Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua and in badminton through the brother-sister team of Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion

The  duo of Illustre and Pascua, which copped the bronze medal in the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, is currently campaigning in beach volley Olympic qualifier, reaching the main draw in the Singapore elims where they eventually lost to powerhouse teams from Brazil and Australia.

The Asuncions are currently rated 15th in mixed doubles in world ranking and are campaigning in the Super Series tournaments, a gateway to the Beijing meet.

Ramirez maintained that they would find ways to allocate funds for the athletes not included in the First Gentleman’s list as long as they hurdle the Olympic qualifiers.