Lessons learned in cycling: A license is extremely essential

The Philippines lost a major opportunity to bag what could possibly be its only cycling gold medal in the 26th Southeast Asian Games after world-class Filipino-Americans Alexis Manosa and Daniel Patrick Manabat were disqualified even before they could climb the start ramp on Friday. Commissaires did not allow the two riders to start because technically, they still possess US Cycling licenses—although they were issued PhilCycling licenses to be able to compete in the SEA Games. Protests from the Thailand and Malaysian teams prompted the technical officials of the SEA Games BMX events to scrutinize the status of the two cyclists, who used to ride for the US in international competitions. The commissaries cited UCI regulations on Licenses that state (1.1.011): "The licence shall be issued by the federation of the country where, according to the legislation of that country, the applicant has his main residence at the time of application. He shall remain affiliate to that federation until the expiry of the licence, even if he changes country of residence." Filipino officials tried to appeal the case, but to no avail. "Despite appeals by our cycling president Mayor Bambol Tolentino, Alexis and Daniel will not be able to compete in the BMX event because organizers said they must only have one UCI license issued by one country," said team manager Ed Mangaser. Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco Jr. fumed on the disqualification. "Why did the organizers disqualify our riders at the last minute? Why did they not question their entry when we submitted them earlier? Otherwise we would not have sent them here!" "Most probably they (the organizers) knew our riders had a big chance of winning the gold here." "They must have seen how well these two riders performed during practice last Thursday so apparently used the technicality from preventing them to compete on Friday, which I believe we had good chances for gold," Mangaser said. The two have emphasized earlier that they are willing to drop their American UCI licenses and lose points earned in competing for the US only to race for the Philippine flag. "It sucks that I cannot represent the Philippines because I was truly looking forward to competing in the SEA Games," said Manosa, 34, who is No. 9 on the US Elite Pro tour in 2004. "It would have been a great honor to play for my country." Manabat is a two-time silver medalist in the world BMX championships. "I am truly disappointed at not competing for my country," said Manabat. "The spirit of the Games like this is for the best to compete but they are not allowing the best to participate." The 24-year-old Manabat of Chino, California, was a four-time No. 1 pro on the US circuit. The Philippine cycling team already won one silver and three bronze medals. Mark Galedo clinched silver in the men's individual road race and a bronze in the individual time trial, while the men's team bagged the bronze in the time trial and Joey Barba in men's downhill of mountain bike. In the 2009 Laos SEA Games, Filipino cyclists were not allowed to compete because they did not have UCI licenses issued by the PhilCycling. In the 2007 Games, the Philippines went home with four gold medals in cycling. — JVP, GMA News