PSC: We’re proud of our Olympians

TEAM Philippines still deserves a warm welcome.

The Philippine Sports Commission yesterday bared plans to put up a welcome committee for the members of the national delegation that will go home empty-handed from the London Olympics on Aug. 14.

The 11-man delegation all dropped their respective matches, the last one BMX biker Daniel Caluag who failed to reach the semifinals Thursday.

PSC commissioner Buddy Andrada, head of the reception committee, said there won’t be any fanfare when the contingent arrives but the agency will be giving assistance just in case some of them needed transportation from the airport.

“We are happy for the athletes and we are still very proud of them,” said Andrada. “Just to qualify for the Olympics is good enough in itself.”

The PSC didn’t immediately said who are joining the flight back home although homegrown athletes like boxer Mark Anthony Barriga, tracksters Marestella Torres and Rene Herrera, archers Mark Javier and Rachelle Cabral, swimmers Jasmine Alkhaldi and Jessie Lacuna and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz are expected in the entourage.

He didn’t offer any excuse for the outcome of the PH campaign in the Olympics—the fourth straight Games the country didn’t win a single medal.

“It’s the Olympics, everybody who is great in their own sport are there,” said Andrada. “And we also have to consider a lot of factors. There are other countries that also went home without a medal.”

He said the PSC will now focus on the 2013 Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar.