PSC asks for bigger bubble to train SEA Games bets

PSC Commissioner Ramon Fernandez

For the country to better prepare for its defense of the overall Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) title, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has sought the approval of a bigger bubble that would accommodate athletes seeing action in the biennial Games later this year.

PSC commissioner and Team Philippines’ chef de mission (CDM) Ramon Fernandez said they are hoping the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) will consider their intention to include more athletes training in a bio-safe environment.

So far, only national athletes preparing for the Olympics and its qualifying events are allowed in a closed facility in Calamba, Laguna province. They include athletes in boxing, tae kwon do and karate do.

And with the country hoping to at least make the top three in Vietnam Games, Fernandez vouched for the need to start training more athletes as soon as possible.

“As the CDM and a PSC commissioner, I’m interested as everyone is for our teams to resume formal training and we are working on it,” said Fernandez in a statement.

The four-time Philippine Basketball Association Most Valuable Player said he is working with the Philippine Olympic Committee to help set the plan in motion.

The 2021 SEA Games is slated in Hanoi from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2. Team Philippines won the overall title when it hosted the Games in 2019, fielding in the biggest contingent ever and winning a record 149 gold medals.Vietnam checked in a badly-beaten second with 98 and Thailand third with 92 total golds, respectively.

But though it is the PSC which endorses to the IATF which sporting setup is allowed, the agency will still have to wait for the body’s final decision.

PSC national training director Marc Velasco said that if the resumption is approved, it will have to be in the “form of a bubble.”

Velasco, however, didn’t say if the SEAG-bound athletes will be allowed to join the Calamba bubble or have a separate facility.Similarly waiting for approval is the track and field’s own bubble proposal which is slated at New Clark City stadium. INQ