PSC: 5 sports can help PH match SEA Games medal target in KL

PSC chair William Ramirez. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

The Philippines can easily reach its medal target for the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur with a splendid output in just five sports.

Aquatics alone offers 60 gold medals while centerpiece athletics has 46 events; performing exceptionally in both would be enough for the country to surpass its previous fifth-place finish in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games.

Cycling, pencak silat and gymnastics will have 20 gold medals at stake each.

“We should perform well in these sports if we want a better performance,” said Philippine Sports Commission chair Butch Ramirez.

Except for cycling, the leaders of these sports faced the joint task force of the Philippine Olympic Committee and the PSC yesterday to justify the inclusion of their athletes in the Aug. 19 to 31 biennial Games and more or less project the number of medals they could produce.