Bachmann wants active PSC role in selecting Asian Games athletes   

PSC chairman Dickie Bachmann during the SEA Games send-off ceremony. MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER

As the 19th Asian (Asiad) Games looms over the horizon, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) won’t confine itself merely as a funding partner to the national team.

PSC chair Richard “Dickie’’ Bachmann on Tuesday wants the agency to be more active in the selection and preparation of Filipino athletes for the quadrennial event through the creation of a joint task force with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

“There should be a committee between the PSC and the POC regarding the Asian Games,’’ said Bachmann during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum held at the PSC building inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.

“We are working on a criteria on the sports to be allowed in the Asian Games. We will work it out with the POC and see a common ground on the sports that will be going,’’ added the PSC chief.

Criteria

The delegation from the Philippines parades during the opening ceremony of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) at the Morodok Techo National Stadium in Phnom Penh on May 5, 2023. –CAMBODIA 2023 PHOTO

The POC initially set a criteria where the gold medalists at the recent Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia already have an inside track while silver medalists will also be considered.

POC president Abraham “Bambol’’ Tolentino made it clear that athletes and their national sports associations that wish to be at the Asiad on Sept. 23-Oct. 8 in Hangzhou, China, but fall outside that set criteria will compete at their own expense.

A total of 426 athletes from 40 sports comprise the initial delegation checklist of the POC.

PSC Commissioner Fritz Gaston proposed to focus more on medal-rich Olympic sports such as athletics and gymnastics, where the probability of landing medals for Team Philippines is high.

“We have to scrutinize on how we select our athletes and hopefully we will have more quality athletes with better potentials for medals,’’ said Gaston, who accompanied Bachmann at the weekly forum along with Commissioners Bong Coo and Edward Hayco.