PSC allots P30M for 400 SEAG bets

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will field no less than 400 athletes in its bid to recover lost ground in the Southeast Asian Games.

Jose Romasanta, who served as chef-de-mission of the Philippine delegation to last year’s Asian Games, yesterday said the number of athletes sent to Guangzhou can easily be tripled for the Jakarta SEA Games.

“We sent 118 athletes to the last Asian Games. In the SEA Games, we’re looking at 400 because there will be baseball, softball, basketball, traditional boat race and football,” said the POC spokesperson.

The 2011 SEA Games is scheduled Nov. 11-25. There are four venues listed – Jakarta (15 sports), South Sumatra (11), West Java (12) and Central Java (7) for a total of 45 events.

The number of medals to be disputed will be up soon, but this early, Romasanta said the Philippines should start looking at sports like kenpo (martial arts), bridge, para-gliding, wakeboarding and even wall-climbing.

“There are four venues and with more athletes, it would entail a lot of work for the chef-de-mission. Maybe he can use three deputies and three different offices in Indonesia for the Games,” he said.

“There will be a lot of work. Still, the key here is a good Philippine secretariat. What we need here is a chef-de-mission with a lot of energy,” said Romasanta.

The Philippine Sports Commission has earmarked P30 million for the Philippine participation in the next SEA Games, but the amount may have to be stretched considering that close to 200 coaches and officials will be included in the delegation.

The Philippines has nowhere to go but up in the SEA Games, and this early, Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco is very optimistic, even saying the Filipinos could regain the overall title.

The Philippines wound up the overall champion with 113 gold, 84 silver and 94 bronze medals when it hosted the SEA Games in 2005, but had gone down in its last two stagings.

It wound up sixth in Thailand in 2007 with a medal haul of 41-91-96 and went a notch higher in Laos in 2009 with 38 gold, 35 silver and 51 bronze medals.

“We will do a hundred times better in the next SEA Games,” said Cojuangco.