PSC boosts RP pool to 524 nat’l athletes

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Sports Commission is reinstating 151 athletes from various national sports associations who were removed from the RP pool by the previous PSC administration.       PSC chair Richie Garcia said the agency, after reviewing the recommendations submitted by the NSAs, now has 524 athletes in the national pool who will be receiving monthly allowances, 151 more than the 373 athletes already on its payroll.       “We decided to reinstate those athletes who were removed but we later found are qualified to be in the national team,” said Garcia.       He added that the PSC is also taking into consideration a suggestion by NSA officials to set a specific number of athletes it can accommodate for each association.       “Apparently, we can’t include everybody,” said Garcia. “But I guess we will take the suggestion that the PSC should provide a fixed number of slots per NSA,” he added.       The PSC chief said the 524 athletes in the national pool include several new and promising talents. He said  the inclusion of more newcomers are still up for review.       “There are new names that we didn’t include. We have to go down the list again,” said Garcia.       At least 300 athletes were removed from the RP pool during the 18-month tenure of former PSC chair Harry Angping, who prioritized support only for those with potentials to win medals in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and the Olympics.       Garcia said the PSC will retain the 16 elite athletes named by the past administration for the Asian Games in Guangzhou then categorize and provide the allowance rate of the athletes based on performance.