INQUIRER Sports

THE PHILIPPINE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE will set up a task force this month that will determine the criteria for the selection of athletes to the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, this November.

POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta said the national Olympic body?s executive board will decide on the structure of the task force and the secretariat to kick off preparations for the Asiad.

Scheduled on Nov. 12 to 27, the Asiad will feature 473 events in 42 sports, 14 of them non-Olympic disciplines such as cricket, dancesports, Chinese chess, dragon boat and roller sports, to name a few.

?They (organizers) have strict timelines and deadlines in the Asian Games,? said Romasanta during the PSA Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. ?We need to come up with the task force and secretariat as early as now to address the needs of the team.?

The Philippines captured 38 gold medals at the recent Southeast Asian Games in Laos and finished fifth overall.

All medalists will receive their incentives from President Macapagal-Arroyo in Malacañang today.

?Our chances of winning more medals depend on the number of qualifiers that we will have in the games,? said Romasanta. ?By starting the preparations early, we can have more qualifiers than what we had in the past.?

No mention was made of an earlier plan by the Philippine Sports Commission to come up with a select 50-man national pool for the Asiad that will be trained abroad.