INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Sports Commission will try to make its “presence felt” to make sure Filipino athletes in the coming Beijing Olympics get a fair shake in officiating particularly in the crucial stage of their respective campaigns.

Noting that there were reports of biased judging in the Olympics in the past, PSC chair William “Butch” Ramirez said it is no longer enough to rely on the athletes’ skills when a medal is on the line.

Officials must also do their share in making sure their wards get fair officiating, added Ramirez during a dinner with some sportswriters in San Juan Tuesday.

Ramirez, who is leaving for Beijing on Thursday, said there is a need to generate goodwill within the international sports federations, their officials and referees to make sure the Filipinos will be playing on a level field with their rivals.

He said some officials may have missed this important factor when the country came close to ending its Olympic gold medal drought two times in the past.

“I think that’s one thing we failed to do when Anthony Villanueva and Onyok Velasco fought in the past,” Ramirez said.

Villanueva settled for the silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Games and Velasco duplicated that feat in 1996 in Atlanta.

Ramirez revealed that he has personally met with the International Amateur Boxing Federation (AIBA) president Ching Kuo Wu this year in Chinese Taipei during an invitational meet where Olympic light flyweight bet Harry Tañamor won. And he plans to continue buckling down to work in Beijing.

“Once there, I will make my presence felt. It could make a lot of difference when the gold medal is on the line,” added Ramirez.