The Myanmar Southeast Asian Games in December won’t be a training ground for untested athletes.
This will be the basis when the national sports associations submit to the SEAG task force today their candidates for slots to the national contingent taking part in the Dec. 11 to 22 biennial meet.
Myanmar organizers have set the deadline for submission of lineup by numbers of the 11 competing countries on Friday.
“They (NSAs) have to justify in verifiable terms the inclusion of the athletes that they will recommend,” said Philippine Olympic Committee first vice president Joey Romasanta yesterday. “The burden of convincing the task force is now with the NSAs.”
“We don’t expect our athletes to peak at this time. But then again, there are certain tournaments where we can gauge their performances in the buildup to the SEA Games,” Romasanta added.
The joint task force headed by chef de mission Jeff Tamayo and composed of POC and Philippine Sports Commission officials will screen the athletes recommended and determine the standards that the NSAs used for their inclusion.
Once the task force has scrutinized the list, the POC-PSC top brass headed by local Olympic chief Jose Cojuangco Jr. and PSC chair Richie Garcia will finalize the lineup.
Garcia prefers a small delegation as a sign of protest after Burmese organizers added 60 events from indigenous sports unfamiliar to Filipino athletes.
“We can’t determine the numbers yet. You can’t limit the participation to 50 athletes if you have 100 athletes who deserve to be there,” said Romasanta.
“The limiting factor here is the full potential of the athlete. Of course, there’s no guarantee. Athletes could win or lose, but we shouldn’t lose by a wide margin,” he added.
The Philippines, which finished sixth overall in the 2011 SEAG in Indonesia, can send athletes in 31 of 33 sports with 460 gold medals that will be played in Myanmar, seventh placer of the previous Games.