Asiad buildup goes full blast after polls

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s preparations for the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November will go full swing after the May 10 national elections.

“Right now, we really can’t make solid plans especially when it comes to funding,” said RP Team chef-de-mission Jose Romasanta over DZsr Sports Radio the other day.

Romasanta said he will sit down with heads of the 30 different national sports associations (NSAs) that will represent the country in the Asian Games starting on May 12 or two days after the national elections.

Some of the country’s top officials are eagerly awaiting the results of the coming elections that preparations for the quadrennial event set Nov. 12-25 seemed to have temporarily taken a backseat.

“Hopefully after June we will see a clearer picture on the organization and administrative side of our preparations,” said Romasanta, who must be referring to the June 30 inauguration of the new president.

Jose Cojuangco, the Philippine Olympic Committee president, is the uncle of leading presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. The past few weeks, the POC chief has been busy campaigning for Aquino.

The POC, according to Cojuangco, is hoping to fund the Philippine delegation to Guangzhou on its own, following an announcement by the Philippine Sports Commission that it would only fund athletes that will pass its own criteria.

Chairman Harry Angping recently announced that they already have 14 elite athletes qualified for the Asian Games and is looking at other candidates from the list of 267 athletes under the training pool.

Angping said he can actually count with his fingers the athletes with real chances of winning the gold in Guangzhou, but is also willing to fund those with chances of landing the bronze medal in the quadrennial event.

Angping said at the end of the day, the PSC may end up funding around 80 athletes. The POC wants more than that, considering that in the 2006 Doha Asian Games the RP Team was made up of 233 athletes.

The Philippines brought home four gold, six silver and nine bronze medals from Doha, and Angping believes that the country can either match or surpass that output even with a delegation of 80 qualified athletes.

“Only those who are qualified will be funded by the PSC. It’s up to them if they want to send more,” said the PSC chief.