POC strikes lady cagers, riders off Asiad roster

MANILA—The number of athletes to the Asian Games was reduced to 234 after the Philippine Olympic Committee withdrew the equestrian and women’s basketball teams from the RP roster. Asian Games chef de mission Joey Romasanta confirmed Tuesday that the equestrian trio of Toni Leviste, Joker Arroyo and Michael Oyson will miss the Nov. 12 to 27 Asiad due to the unreasonable cost of transportation.

Romasanta said Equestrian Association of the Philippines director Steven Virata told him that they would need at least $40,000 (roughly P1.8 million) for a round-trip ticket to bring each horse to Guangzhou. Bringing all three horses would mean shelling out at least $120,000 (P5.4 million).  “It’s financially impractical. When the riders found this out, they decided to skip the games,” said Romasanta. The POC working committee, which was tasked to screen the athletes, also decided to drop the women’s basketball team from the delegation. Romasanta said the POC would be penalized if it included the women’s team in the Asiad roster and then it failed to qualify.  The 12 lady dribblers should capture the crown in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association tournament on Oct. 24 to 29 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium to book a ticket to Guangzhou. The POC submitted a total of 249 athletes from 30 sports last week to the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee. The women’s basketball team was still in that list. The number of athletes could diminish further to 190 the moment the men and women’s dragon boat teams fail to meet the qualifying standards set by the POC.