There will be five regional qualifiers that will produce the final cast of athletes competing in the next Philippine National Games.
Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia announced the change of format in the PNG yesterday as he noted that a number of athletes capture multiple gold medals without a real challenge from the opposition in the competition that serves as a source of talents for the Philippine team.
“Some of the events had only two or three participants while a few had only one entry, assuring that athlete a gold medal,” said Garcia. “We will not allow that anymore.”
He said the five regional qualifiers from northern and southern Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and National Capital Region will advance to the PNG finals in 2016.
“We would like to be more competitive and raise the quality of participants in the PNG because there are participants who could not meet the standards,” said Garcia.
He added the winners in the qualifying legs will also compete against the members of the national pool, who are seeded in the national championships.
“If an unknown athlete beats a priority athlete, that athlete will be taken into the national pool,” said Garcia.
“The priority athletes have no reason to lose because of the full support that they receive from the PSC. They have to make sure they win,” added Garcia.
There are over 800 athletes in the national pool, including 150 priority athletes who receive as much as P40,000 in monthly allowance and entitled to a couple of foreign exposures.