RP roster rushed to meet Laos deadline

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Olympic Committee said it’s cramming to finalize the RP team roster to next month’s Southeast Asian Games in Laos and meet the new deadline set by the Laos SEAG Organizing Committee (LAGOC).

Appearing at the PSA Forum, RP chief of mission Mario Tanchangco, Philippine Olympic Committee spokesman Joey Romasanta and athletics chief Go Teng Kok said they were in the process of finalizing the lineup yesterday.

“We’re in the process of finalizing everything,” said Romasanta, who represented POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, Jr., who failed to show up in yesterday’s PSA Forum at the Shakey’s UN Ave.

The RP officials had cited the spate of recent typhoons that hit the country as the reason behind their failure to meet LAGOC’s first deadline set last Oct. 26.

“We informed the Laos Organizing Committee that we had several typhoons here the past few weeks and asked for an extension. They agreed to extend the deadline until today (yesterday),” said Go.

Tanchangco said the delay in the submission of the roster would not jeopardize the timetable of events for the SEAG.

“They are just waiting for our lineups so they can make the pairings for the events,” Tanchangco said.

Tanchangco, who also heads the sepak takraw association, said the total RP delegation remained at 379, including 247 athletes, although they have yet to come up with a complete breakdown of the list per sport.

The POC, meanwhile, said it could raise funds for the additional athletes outside of the 153-man delegation to be funded by the Philippine Sports Commission. The POC said it would need at least P5 million to finance the participation of the additional RP bets.

Romasanta said Cojuangco has already raised 75 percent of the funds for the remaining athletes from private sponsors.

“He (Cojuangco) is very confident that he will have the funds,” said Romasanta.

 While the PSC is batting for a delegation made up of gold and silver medalists in the last SEAG, the POC is alloting slots for young athletes to give them SEAG exposure.

“There should be a steady stream of athletes (coming from the youth ranks),” said Romasanta. “It should be an assembly line. We should generate as much interest in the youth in some sports.”

Meanwhile, Tanchango said they’re still deliberating on who will be the country’s flag bearer in the biennial, 11-nation meet slated Dec. 9-18 in Vientiane.

Some of the names being considered are pool legend Efren “Bata” Reyes, shooter Tac Padilla and tanker Miguel Molina.

“The flag bearer is not the problem, we could decide on it even on the last minute anyway,” Tanchangco said.

Go later expressed confidence that the RP athletes will finish strong this time after a woeful sixth place finish in Thailand in 2007.

“We could win a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 60 gold medals in Laos, which should be enough for us to finish third,” he said. “We’re looking at track and field, swimming and billiards as our main sources of gold medals. Taekwondo and boxing should be strong too.”

The country fielded in 680 athletes, or three times the country is sending this year, in the 2007 SEAG, but they could only muster 42 gold medals and finished a disappointing sixth.