1,600-strong PH team locked and loaded for Thai SEAG

December 8 ------ The Philippines is sending its biggest delegation yet to the 33rd Southeast Asian Games with over 1600 athletes, coaches and staff composing the team that is hoping to surpass the country’s performance in the past biennial meets.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick ‘Pato’ Gregorio led the official send-off of the delegation on Friday, Nov. 28, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. Although hopeful that the big number of athletes would key the country’s bid to surpass the 58-gold, 85-silver, and 117-bronze medal haul from the last edition, Gregorio stressed that the decision to send such a huge delegation was for the long term.

The PSC chief emphasized that more than winning the medals, the amount of exposure the national athletes would gain will be crucial in the country’s dreams of bagging more Olympic gold medals in the future. “The biggest delegation in the history of the Philippines’ participation in the Southeast Asian Games. Uulitin ko po, bakit? Para mabigyan ng exposure ang ating atleta at magkaroon ng mas maraming medalya,” said Gregorio. “Iyan ang investment natin so they can compete better pagdating ng Asian Games, pagdating ng Olympics,” he stressed during the event where the barong the athletes will use for the opening ceremony was also unveiled. “We’re sending in the biggest delegation, bigger when we host it in 2019, because there are so many team events,” said Tolentino.

The medal-rich athletics will have the most number of participants from the Filipino contingent with 61, followed by football with 59 players composing the men’s and women’s football teams and futsal teams. The aquatics and jiu jitsu will each have 45 bets while team sports hockey and floorball will be fielding 44 and 40 players, respectively. Shooting will feature 39 participants just as cycling with 36 individuals.

Hoping to further motivate the athletes, Christmas also came early for the PH SEAG bets as Gregorio announced an additional P6,000 allowance for each athletes as well as a bonus of P18,000. Of course, those are still on top of the incentives the athletes will get from the government. Admitting that Team PH is facing a tall task in the SEA Games, Tolentino remained confident that the athletes can deliver despite playing in the opponent’s turf. “Ang need lang natin ingatan ay yung judging of course nasa hometown sila. Pero all the rest, knockout kung knockout, tumba kung tumba. Ayan ang Pilipino hindi magpapatalo iyan,” said Tolentino.

Source: mb.com.ph