POC to supervise SEAG swim bets

LONDON Olympic swimmers Jasmine Alkhaldi and Jessie Khing Lacuna will now train under the supervision of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

And the same setup will be observed for the rest of the national swimming team for the coming Southeast Asian Games after the local Olympic body decided to take over the preparation and selection of the swimmers from the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association, the governing body for the sport in the country.

Philippine chef de mission Julian Camacho said the POC board made the move after the association headed by Mark Joseph failed to provide the names of their swimmers.

“They’ve submitted 91 swimmers but no names,” said Camacho.

“It was already approved by the (POC) board,” he added.

POC first vice president Joey Romasanta, however, said they would still sit down with Joseph.

The Philippines is looking to send at least 500 Filipino athletes who will compete in 34 sports in the Singapore SEA Games set June 5 to 16.

During the 2013 Games in Burma (Myanmar), Alkhaldi brought home two bronze medals after she got stripped of the gold in the 100m freestyle. Filipino-Americans Joshua Hall (100m breaststroke) and Matt Louis Navata (200m butterfly) also copped a bronze each.