The Philippine Olympic Committee found its own godfather in the Olympic Council of Asia, which vowed to help train the country’s top athletes in five sports – athletics, swimming, beach volleyball, taekwondo and lawn tennis.
Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, the POC president, announced the news during yesterday’s General Assembly following his short visit to OCA chief Sheik Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah in Kuwait over the weekend.
“It’s welcome news,” said Cojuangco, who also heads the national equestrian association.
Cojuangco said the support will not only extend until the 2008 Beijing Olympics this August but also long after.
The support will either come through an all-expenses paid international exposure for athletes in the five disciplines or the OCA sending high-caliber foreign coaches here to train the athletes.
Cojuangco’s Kuwait trip was also intended to solicit support from the OCA on the POC’s plan to construct an Olympic training center somewhere in Clark Field, Pampanga.
The POC was initially seeking $50,000, or P2 million, from OCA to bankroll the construction of a 200 to 300-hectare training center that would house and train all elite athletes.
The Sheik, in fact, will pay the country a visit on April 1 aboard his private plane to personally see the site of the proposed training venue.
“He (Al Sabah) will visit us on April 1 and we might discuss more issues,” said Cojuangco.
Meanwhile, the POC affirmed the re-election of former Congressman Prospero Pichay as president of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
The NCFP ignored the temporary restraining order filed by executive director Samuel Estimo by holding its own polls leading to Pichay’s re-election.
Also, the POC also recognized Otto Antao as the official officer-in-charge of the Philippine Karate Federation, and not secretary-general Amado Lim, who was earlier appointed by beleaguered PKF president Ed Ponce as OIC.
But Antao wrote the POC a letter saying that he’s the rightful successor since he’s the deputy president.