PSC presents priority plan to POC

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) yesterday presented to the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executive board its programs for 2012, including its plan to prioritize support for certain sports and athletes.

PSC chair Richie Garcia declined to name the national sports association (NSA) which will be given preference in financial assistance but stressed that it will number from 10 to 12 NSAs.

The PSC also wants to create a pool of “elite athletes” coming from the 180 national bets who won medals in the recent Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

The selective choice of sports, an idea hatched by previous PSC administrations, is expected to include those which carry the best chances of winning in international competitions.

Former PSC chair Butch Ramirez have included combat sports like taekwondo, boxing, judo and karatedo as well as tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, track and field, aquatics, fencing, shooting, bowling, billiards and golf as priority sports.

The move to select “elite athletes” has also been done by former PSC chair Harry Angping.

In 2009, Angping handpicked some 20 athletes who received higher training allowances like bowler Biboy Rivera, chesser Wesley So, boxer Harry Tañamor and trackster Marestella Torres.

That move was criticized by the POC, which said it was unfair to the other athletes.

This time, POC chair Monico Puentevella of weightlifting said he finds nothing wrong with the PSC plans, which the Olympic body will tackle during its general assembly meeting next month.

The PSC will reportedly allot P200 million for sports development in the grassroots and P100 million each for elite athletes and select NSAs.