INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines?The Philippine Sports Commission has named tennis players Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey and bowler Biboy Rivera as the first three members of its elite athletes? pool for the Guangzhou Asian Games in November.

The three were chosen based on the PSC?s criteria of performances closest to a third-place finish in the 2006 Doha Asiad and on consultations with their national sports associations.

Mamiit, Huey and Rivera will each receive a monthly stipend of P20,000, apart from PSC financial backing for their international stints before the Asiad.

The two tennis aces powered the Philippines back to Group 1 in the Davis Cup and were part of the victorious men?s team in the recent Southeast Asian Games, where Mamiit won the singles gold for the third straight time.

Rivera, the 2006 World Masters champion, was chosen on the strength of his international performances last year, including a championship and a runner-up finish in twin tournaments in Dubai.

The PSC is also expected to name to the elite cast Asian long jump queen Marestella Torres and SEA Games champions Annie Albania (women?s boxing), Miguel Molina (swimming) and taekwondo-jin Mary Antoinette Rivero (taekwondo).

PSC chair Harry Angping, however, said the agency has yet to discuss with the NSAs the training programs for their respective athletes.

Angping earlier announced that the agency could spend as much as P200 million for the training and competition of the top athletes here and abroad and that the elite pool could include 50 athletes.

?The PSC will start spending more on these athletes,? said Angping.

But there?s no guarantee that the athletes in the PSC?s pool will be chosen by the Philippine Olympic Committee, which has the authority to send them to competitions, being the umbrella organization of NSAs.

POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta, also the Guangzhou Asiad chief of mission, said only athletes with fighting chances of winning medals will be given the green light to compete in the quadrennial Games.