MANILA—The Philippines will be fielding its leanest Asian Games delegation in 25 years when the competition gets going in Guangzhou Friday.
The national contingent will be bannered by 188 athletes, following the addition of basketball players Sol Mercado and Chris Lutz, whose accreditations were approved by the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee yesterday.
The country sent 253 athletes four years ago to the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, where the they collected four gold medals on top of six silvers and nine bronzes.
The reduced number of athletes was a result of a stringent selection process employed by the Philippine Olympic Committee, which is hoping to improve the athletes-to-medal ratio from the last Asiad.
The delegation also includes 53 coaches, 17 managers, 12 headquarters staff and a 10-man medical crew.
The Filipino athletes will be seeing action in only 29 of 43 sports in Guangzhou.
The bulk of the contingent will arrive in Guangzhou on Wednesday, while POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. and chief of mission Joey Romasanta will fly in a day later in time for the Nov. 11 flag raising ceremony.
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