Olympic hopefuls get bigger piece of the pie from PSC

There will be no shortage of support from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for athletes favored to clinch a spot in the Tokyo Olympics, with Chair William “Butch” Ramirez making the assurance less than a week after his agency had announced cutting down allowances of national athletes in half because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Aside from the four athletes who already qualified, we will also give priority to those who have a big chance of making it to the Olympics,’’ Ramirez said.

Pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo and boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno have booked their tickets to the Tokyo Summer Games, which was rescheduled to July 23 to Aug. 8 next year due to the health crisis.

Receiving an average of over P100 million a month from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), the amount dwindled to P9 million last month after casino operations under Pagcor were halted because of the pandemic.

The PSC spends at least P30 million for the monthly allowances of over a thousand athletes and coaches from 56 sports.

A total of 62 athletes from 18 sports are seeking berths in the Games through qualifying meets that will run just a couple of months before the new Olympics schedule of July 23 next year.

“I was touched by the reactions of the athletes despite the reduction; they understand the situation and didn’t complain,’’ said Ramirez, who will preside over the PSC’s virtual board meeting on Friday to discuss the training of athletes set to compete in Olympic qualifying tournaments.

He assured the allowances of the athletes would be released retroactively once the remittance from the Pagcor goes back to normal.