Asiad berth for Filipino world champ windsurfer

Unknown to many, windsurfer Geylord Coveta is a world champion and Asian titleholder rolled into one.

No wonder, top officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission are ecstatic to have the 24-year-old in the Philippine contingent to the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Coveta, who learned to tame the waves in his hometown of Anilao in Batangas, won the 2012 RS:One Windsurfing World Championship in Boracay and the Asian championship held in Singapore last year.

“He’s the world champion and we’re hoping that he can deliver for us (in the Asian Games),” said Philippine chef de mission and PSC chair Richie Garcia.

Coveta will race alongside close friend, Yancy Kaibigan, for the two-man Philippine windsurfing team during the Incheon Games on Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. They will be coached by German Paz, a multiple medal winner in the Southeast Asian Games.

POC chair Tom Carrasco said Coveta is also being considered as the country’s flag-bearer in the Asiad.

Projected to set sail in the next Olympics, RS:One is a windsurfing event created by the International Windsurfing Association three years ago to attract more competitors to the sport.

Coveta belongs to the elite class of Filipino athletes who are capable of bringing home the gold along with bowlers Biboy Rivera and Frederick Ong, BMX riders and siblings Daniel and Christopher Caluag, the boxers, taekwondo jins and the Gilas Pilipinas basketball team.

Rivera won the gold in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Daniel Caluag is a former US national champion who raced in the 2012 London Olympics, and Gilas is a strong bet for the title after placing third in the recent Fiba Asia Championship.