CHEF de mission Ramon Fernandez believes the Hanoi 31st Southeast Asian Games-bound athletes have ample time to train despite limitations set by the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified ECQ for the whole of April.
“I hope three months would really be enough for the athletes to perform at their peak or at their very best,” the 67-year-old Fernandez, also a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
Some members of Team Philippines are supposed to enter a bubble at the Inspire Institute of Sports in Calamba this Thursday, but collective training are prohibited even under MECQ.
Fernandez said a PSC-Philippine Olympic Committee (PSC-POC) Task Force was created to coordinate the preparations of 29 national sports associations whose athletes will compete in the November 21 to December 2 SEA Games.
There are 40 sports in the Hanoi SEA Games program with the Philippines opting not to field a team in petanque.
The NSAs’ timelines on their athletes’ preparations will be the task force’s main concern, Fernandez told the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Fernandez also disclosed in the forum that the PSC earmarked P200 million for the SEA Games—P100 million for the actual campaign or participation and the other half for the training of the athletes.
The Philippine Basketball Association Legend also said a bubble training at the Laguna facility would be costly, thus an option for the NSAs to consider holding their respective bubbles with the help of local government units where Covid-19 infections are low.
“Boxing, karate and taekwondo athletes trained at Inspire for about 45 days and the PSC spent P21 million,” he said. “Just imagine how much the cost would be if you put the entire Team Philippines there.”
Team Philippines will be composed of 626 athletes with half of that number making up coaches and other team support.
The Philippines emerged overall champion as host of the games’ 30th edition in 2019 and Fernandez, speaking in his capacity as a former athlete, expressing confidence over a strong performance in Vietnam.
“Thinking from an athletes’ point of view, I believe our athletes are in top condition,” he said. They didn’t stop training—even on their own.”
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