Southeast Asian sports leaders are adopting a proposal by athletics’ chief Philip Juico pushing for a regional cooperation in order to keep up with the sporting powerhouses of Asia.
The sports summit held in Singapore over the weekend, according to Juico, was brought about by the recent Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, where SEA countries garnered only four medals out of the 141 at stake in athletics.
“That was less than 3 percent of the overall number, which was very disappointing,” said Juico.
Under Juico’s plan, each country will prioritize a particular athletic field of specialty.
“The Philippines, for example, will take care of the long-distance events, such as marathon, the 10,000 meters, etc. Thailand, on the other hand, will concentrate on the sprint events, such as the century dash, the 200 meters, among others,” Juico explained while adding that everyone was enthusiastic about the idea.
Pole vault legend Sergey Bubka of Ukraine, who attended the summit, also agreed with the proposal.