Angping selects six more Asian Games elite athletes

Thursday, 25 February 2010 04:24 PM Jay Salazar

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chair Harry Angping identified yesterday six more athletes who will be given special benefits from the government agency as they prepare for the upcoming 2010 Asian Games, which will be held in Guangzhou, China, this November.

Young chess grandmaster Wesley So, swimmers Miguel Molina and Daniel Coakley, long jumper Marestella Torres, karateka Marna Pabillore, and pool player Rubilen Amit were selected to join the elite roster, which is headed by tennis players Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey, and bowler Biboy Rivera. Mamiit, Huey, and Rivera were the first to qualify because their respective national sports associations (NSAs) had submitted their complete line-ups and programs to the PSC early.

The nine athletes came from a national training pool of 187. Because they are part of the elite roster, they will receive a P20,000 monthly allowance, as well as a choice of international stints on a quarterly basis. The other athletes will receive a monthly allowance of P15,000 each.

Angping emphasized that the athletes were expected to live up to certain standards. "PSC deserves the right to pre-terminate the support to the athletes if they do not perform well in their respective training and international exposures. We will also remove athletes who will fail the physical examination set by the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine," he said

The PSC expects the national pool to grow as other NSAs, such as boxing, golf, billiards and snooker, and men’s basketball, have yet to submit their records.

Of the current pool, 50 athletes come from dragon boat (25 each in the men's and women's divisions), 16 from taekwondo, and 15 from women’s basketball.

Dance sports, bowling, and rugby come in next with 12 athletes apiece, followed by soft tennis (11), athletics and karatedo (10 each), shooting (8), sailing (7), rowing (5), windsurfing and lawn tennis (4 each), triathlon and weightlifting (3 each), and archery (1).

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