THE country’s athletes to the 31st Southeast Asian Games that Vietnam is hosting in November will start training in four venues starting in April.
Ramon Fernandez, chef de mission to the Vietnam SEA Games, said bubble training centers will be set up at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC) in Manila, PhilSports Complex in Pasig City, Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City and the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
“We have identified these training centers to get our athletes going for the SEA Games,” Fernandez, also a Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner, told BusinessMirror on Tuesday.
As this developed, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino started discussions with national sports associations (NSAs) officials and set a March 23 deadline for the submission of their entries.
Fernandez said that PSC Chairman William Ramirez wrote the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) last Monday seeking an approval for SEA-Games bound athletes to start training collectively.
“We already asked the IATF of our intention and [National Task Force Against Covid-19] Secretary Carlito Galvez responded that they will work on it,” Fernandez said.
An approval from the IATF would mean that the RMSC and PhilSports would no longer be quarantine and healing centers for Covid-19 patients.
Fernandez said he also met with Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) President Vince Dizon on Tuesday on the use of the New Clark City as training facility. He was joined in the meeting by his deputies Pearl Managuelod of muay and Atty. Alberto Agra of obstacle sports.
“Secretary Dizon told us they can transfer all the Covid-19 center to one place and they have around 400 rooms available for our athletes,” Fernandez said.
Athletes in athletics and swimming would be using the Capas facility.
“They are looking for our athletes to use their venues although they will charge us for a few [expenses] for the regular upkeep,” Fernandez said. “We can start the regular training by April.”
“We’ll work with the PSC and the NSAs and we will assist them with protocols to ensure a safe training bubble modeled after the successful PBA [Philippine Basketball Association] bubble,” Dizon told BusinessMirror.
Team Philippines will vie in 38 of the 40 sports programmed in the Vietnam SEA Games which are set from November 21 to December 2.