INQUIRER Sports

PHILIPPINE SPORTS COMMISSION CHAIR Harry Angping is not encouraging the ?have-money-will-travel? policy for the Filipino athletes competing in this year?s Laos Southeast Asian Games.

The PSC chief said that the old practice in the past ?will only drag down the standard of the Philippine team and also affect the morale of the athletes who have already qualified.?

A former softball association president and two-time Manila congressman, Angping added that the PSC will only bankroll the best athletes such as the gold medal winners of the last SEA Games and the silver medalists with ?high gold medal potentials.?

However, the PSC is not closing the doors on the other athletes who have surpassed the agency?s strict criteria in other tournaments where they saw action.

?As long as these athletes are qualified, we will support them,? Angping said. ?But the PSC won?t fund those athletes who failed to meet their criteria even if they were endorsed by the Philippine Olympic Committee.?

The POC, headed by former Tarlac Rep. Jose ?Peping? Cojuangco, had earlier announced that it would be funding those Laos-bound athletes who will not be getting financial support from the PSC.

Now on its 20th edition, the SEA Games kick off on Dec. 6 in Vientiane with 25 sports disciplines on tap.

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United States Bowling Congress international ambassador and six-time world champion Paeng Nepomuceno added another feather in his cap when he was honored again by the Bowlers Journal International by including him in the elite list of Top 10 International Coaches for 2009.

This is the second consecutive year that the 52-year-old Filipino bowler is being honored by the Bowler?s Journal International, America?s oldest, most influential and most prestigious bowling publication.

According to the Bowlers Journal International, ?the prestigious honor has been bestowed upon coaches whose successes have deeply influenced and changed the coaching world.?

In 2003, the magazine named Paeng Nepomuceno as ?the Greatest International Bowler of All Time.?

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The poor performance of the PBA-backed Powerade-Team Pilipinas in the 31st Jones Cup proved beyond a shadow of doubt that basketball is not the sport for the short and puny Filipinos in international-level competitions.

No amount of excuses from bull-headed basketball leaders could justify that big letdown.

The Philippines used to be a dominant force in Asia and the world, including the Olympics and World Basketball Championships. The Filipinos bagged fifth place in the 1936 Berlin Games and placed third in the 1954 world cagefest in Rio de Janeiro.

However, I?m consoled by the fact that the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) has bestowed recognition on the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas as the Fiba?s official body for basketball in the country. Kudos to SBP president Manny V. Pangilinan and his hardworking group!

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PERSONAL: My pamangkin, Pauline Principe, will mark her 18th birthday with a party at the Maynila Ballroom of the Manila Hotel on Saturday, Aug. 1. She is the daughter of former Bulacan board member and human rights lawyer Pete and Dr. Pottie Principe.