THE PHILIPPINE Sports Commission (PSC) has already approved the line-up of Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) bound sports, even while they await the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on the resumption of training.
PSC Commissioner Ramon Fernandez and 31st SEAG Chef de Mission said the PSC board has decided to take this action to fast track preparations for the country’s defense of the overall crown, “we will still await the IATF’s approval to formally resume, but we hope to have everything in place so we can immediately go once we get the green light.”
Athletes of SEAG bound sports and the rest of the national team can expect to receive allowances retroactive to February, despite SEAG training still projected to start mid-April. An advisory to national sports associations has already been issued for the immediate submission of necessary documents, as part of the government agency’s regular accounting and auditing rules.
Athletes in Olympic-bound sports were first to receive their allowances which were released this week. Their allowances continued through January, which is evaluation season, since training continued for them. More than 50 athletes underwent bubble training in the first quarter, as part of their preparations for the quadrennial in Tokyo.
“It took a while to go through the reassessment of our more than 1,300 strong national team. We have to also follow requirements and policies since we are using government funds, but it is now done and subsequent processes have been started,” explained PSC Chairman William Ramirez.
At the start of the year, the national team undergoes reevaluation as the year’s national team roster is established. Per policy, allowances are subsequently cut, but the agency retained the allowances of Olympic-bound sports since they continued their training.
The PSC also continued to support SEAG and Olympic preparations of different sports, despite heavy budget cuts. Almost P4 Million was approved to fund the boxing team’s joint training camp in Thailand, which includes almost P1.2 Million in quarantine fees.
The karate team’s Olympic training camp in Turkey got P5.9 million in financial support. Several qualifying competitions of the Judo team are also being funded by the agency. The ongoing 2020 World Singles Qualification Tournament and 2020 Asian Qualification Tournament participation of the table tennis team in Doha, Qatar was funded with more than P1.3 million.
There are also a number of small bubble trainings around the country, like the fencing team in Ormoc and the Archery team in Dumaguete, which are being supported by the sports agency. (PR)
