POC sending 400 athletes to Southeast Asian Games in Singapore

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Olympic Committee has approved 400 Filipino athletes in 33 sports for the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

Chief of mission Julian Camacho said Monday a large fraction of the participation would come from team sports as Team Philippines aims to surpass its seventh-place performance in the Burma (Myanmar) 2013 meet.

Camacho, who also sits as treasurer of the POC, said they’ve allocated 12 slots for women’s volleyball, which is still on hold as top officials in the sport try to settle their differences.

Other team disciplines included are the men’s and women’s teams in basketball, softball and rugby 7s along with male entries in traditional boat race and water polo.

“We have less than four months to prepare. But I’m confident that we could beat our previous output,” said Camacho.

Team PH brought home 29 gold medals, 34 silvers and 38 bronzes from Burma.

Athletics, the country’s top performer two years ago with six golds, has entered 34 athletes (22 male, 12 female) in 46 events.

Medal prospects in taekwondo (14), billiards (13), boxing (10), bowling (12) and wushu (12) have also filled up the spots in the delegation to the June 5 to 16 biennial meet.

“These are the sports that are expected to deliver,” said Camacho, secretary general of the Wushu Federation of the Philippines.

A total of 402 gold medals from 36 sports are at stake in Singapore with the Philippines skipping netball, field hockey and floor ball.

In team sports, Camacho said the Marcus Douthit-reinforced men’s basketball team will defend the crown.

They also have high hopes in fencing (18), sailing (13), archery (12), swimming (11), tennis (10), gymnastics (10), cycling (8), judo (8), shooting (9), golf (7) and triathlon (4).