Asian Games: RP athletes to join 36 of 42 sports in Asian Games

THE Philippines is looking to join 36 of 42 sports events when the 2010 Asian Games gets going in Guangzhou, China.

National team delegation chef de mission Joey Romasanta made the assessment after emerging from a meeting with the joint secretariat of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission.
Romasanta discussed this possibility with PSC chairman Richie Garcia and the three commissioners during the meeting. Also discussed was the budgetary requirement of the national delegation to the Asiad.
“There are 36 NSAs which could join the games. We will know the final number once we are finished with our evaluation,” said Romasanta, who added that the final number will be known within the week.
More than 200 athletes may join the official list for the quadrennial meet. This total includes the national men’s and women’s dragon boat team, which is the biggest contingent in the delegation with 50 athletes, 25 each in the men and women’s side.
Other team events include softball and men’s basketball, which listed more than 13 members in their teams.
Other athletes who made the qualifying mark include those from billiards and snooker, boxing, bowling, chess, cycling, dancesports, karate, lawn tennis, taekwondo, and wrestling.
Meanwhile, the PSC may not have enough budget to help finance international tournaments in the next 12 months.
According to Commissioner Salvador Andrada, the PSC will instead encourage national sports associations to look for sponsors from the private sector.
Yesterday, the PSC board granted a request from the chess association which plans to organize two international meets here, but denied a request from baseball, which wanted to hold an eight-nation baseball meet.
“The PSC will not be involved for the meantime. But, on their own, they (organizers) can do it with the help of private sponsors,” said Andrada.
Andrada said PSC chairman Garcia has indicated that the government sports agency may not have sufficient funds to support international competitions until 2011, but may be able to source out funding by middle of next year.
The PSC has allocated P1.494 million for the staging of the 6th Prospero Pichay Cup International chessfest set Aug. 20 to 28, and the first Florencio Campomanes Memorial chessfest on Aug. 28 to Sept. 5.
But the board turned down a request of P3 million by the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, which plans to host an international meet in 2011.
PABA president Hector Navasero, in a letter to the PSC board, said he made the request after the Baseball Federation of Asia gave them the greenlight to stage the meet.
Navasero said the country is supposed to host the competition for the fifth time since 1954. Peter Atencio