Asiad athletes get P40M

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Sports Commission has appropriated P40 million for the coming Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Despite the financial flexibility, outgoing PSC chair Harry Angping stood his ground that only athletes with chances of winning medals would be bankrolled by the agency in the Nov. 12-27 meet.

“Personally, I will stick to my earlier pronouncement that athletes should meet the benchmark to qualify for the Asian Games,” said Angping.

He said the projected size of the national squad should be 120 athletes at the most, including the men’s and women’s dragon boat teams of 25 rowers each, the Smart Gilas basketball team and around 50 individual athletes.

The Philippine Olympic Committee, however, has a rough estimate of bringing a little over 200 athletes who will also be subjected to stringent qualifying rules set by the working group of Asian Games chef de mission Joey Romasanta.

“We have to be prudent on spending government money,” said Angping. “We have to make sure that the athletes we will send to battle stand a good chance of bringing home a medal.”

Angping wants the holdover leadership of the PSC and the POC to meet and agree on the list of athletes and the number of disciplines the country will compete in.