POC: Rival groups must settle cycling row

MANILA, Philippines -

The planned eliminations have been jeopardized after one group withdrew its representative and signatory to the agreement, which the two factions, upon the recommendation of the POC, had forged.

The agreement calls for the staging of the unified qualifying races for the Asian Games in Guangzhou.

“We (POC) will not impose (on the two camps to go ahead). Ours is just a suggestion, if they don’t want to do it, it’s all up to them,” Joey Romasanta, POC spokesman and chef de mission of the RP team to the Asiad, told The STAR yesterday.

The qualifying races will allow riders affiliated with the two feuding groups, the POC-recognized camp, now headed by Loi Cruz and Armando Bautista and the International Cycling Union-backed camp led by Mayor Abraham Tolentino, to vie for Asiad slots.

Bautista’s group was represented by Arnold Taberdo in the talks for the unified tryouts but it later sacked Taberdo in favor of Cruz.

The elims sought to prevent a repeat of the 2009 Southeast Asian Games in Laos fiasco where POC-accredited Filipino riders were barred from competing because they didn’t have UCI licenses.

“Of course, we’d like to see a Filipino cycling contingent in the Asian Games and I feel they have a realistic chance there. But it now all depends on the two groups. I hope they consider the welfare of the athletes and not deprive them of their chance to compete,” Romasanta said.