126 athletes approved to compete for Asian Games

A total of 126 Filipino athletes were approved by the Philippine Olympic Committee to compete in the coming 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. The athletes were endorsed by the Asian Games screening committee headed by Chief of Mission Joey Romasanta. The total number of athletes came from 27 different national sports association and were gold medal winners in the Laos SEA Games, medalists in the 2006 Doha Asian Games and medalists of different Asian and World-level competitions. "This is just a partial list of athletes. The number is still subject for review since we will return this to the NSAs, which are expected to make their respective appeals for possible inclusion of other athletes. We are giving them until September 15 to justify additional athletes," said POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. Included in the list are members of the men's and women's basketball teams and women's softball. The women's softbelles qualified to the Asian Games after winning the ASEAN Women's Softball Championship held in Indonesia recently. The women's basketball team will still have to win the SEABA women's championship to be hosted by the country this October to formalize its entry in the Asiad. Curiously, there were only two athletes competing in medal-rich sports such as boxing, taekwondo and athletics, while only one shooter qualified in his discipline. "There were issues that were raised like having limited athletes competing in medal-rich sports. So we are going to hear justification from different NSAs for other athletes. But they must make sure that their athletes will hurdle past the criteria," added Cojuangco. Other NSAs are still set to compete in international competitions, which will serve as basis for their selection in the Asian Games. Among them is the men and women's dragon boat team, which will see action in a test event in Guangzhou this month. The POC is also opening its doors to athletes aged 18-and-below, who have the potential to excel, to join the delegation as exposure for future international competitions. The PSC assured that the agency will have enough money to fund a delegation of a little over 300 people. The General Appropriations Act has set aside P30 million of the PSC budget for the participation of the country to the Asian Games. "Our computations showed that we will spend something like P24 million for 330 people to Guangzhou and we are not hesitant to use the entire budget if needed," said newly-appointed PSC chairman Ritchie Garcia. Garcia, who replaced Harry Angping at the helm of the government sports arm, was also satisfied with how the meeting transpired, and stressed he will respect the authority of the POC and the NSAs as far as the selection of athletes is concerned. "That is the role of the POC and the NSAs. We may make our comments once we find out the names of the athletes, who will represent the country. We might seek justification from the NSAs," added Garcia. Philippines is hoping to improve from its previous four gold, six silver and nine bronze medals won by the 233 athletes, who competed in 31 sports disciplines in the 2006 Doha Asian Games. The gold medals came from boxers Violito Payla and Joan Tipon, Antonio Gabica in 9-ball singles and Rene Catalan in the 52-kilogram sanshou division. - RCJ, GMANews.TV