RAMON FERNANDEZ gathers his team on Tuesday to start the ball rolling for the country’s preparations for the Hanoi 31st Southeast Asian Games that the Vietnamese organizers finally scheduled for May 12 to 25 next year.
Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino named Fernandez, a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission, as chef de mission to the Hanoi SEA Games, but his work was shuttered by Vietnam’s cancelation of the biennial event which was originally scheduled for next month.
“We’re starting from zero,” Fernandez told BusinessMirror on Thursday. “I still don’t have an idea if we’ll stick with our original entry by numbers or we’ll have to revise everything.”
Tolentino pegged a 626-athlete team to the Games month’s before the Vietnamese government canceled the Games because of the surge of Covid-19 infections in the region. These athletes will compete in 39 of the 40 sports on the program.
Fernandez said Tuesday’s CDM meeting will include his deputies Atty. Alberto Agra of obstacle sports and Pearl Managuelod of muay thai and Tolentino.
Their agenda includes discussion on the Games’ key dates, sport technical handbooks distributions in December, a new entry by number deadline in January, accreditation application forms submission in February and the deadline of sports entry by names forms in March.
Fernandez said he will hold the meeting online because he will be in Dubai for the world karate federation congress on the invitation of its president, Antonio Espinos of Spain.
He also said that the PSC would be allocating P200 million for the SEA Games preparation and participation in 2022.
“Most of this year’s budget for the SEA Games preparations was already spent for the athletes’ foreign training and competitions that started early or middle of this year,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez also said that the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila and the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City could welcome the national athletes back now that the pandemic is waning. Both facilities were used as quarantine facilities since March last year.
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