Myanmar SEAG bid doomed, says Garcia

Forget about the Philippines improving on its worst ever sixth place in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games.

Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia yesterday said Myanmar, host of the 2013 edition in December, has inserted 68 events totally unfamiliar to Filipino athletes in a bid to move up high in the overall race after placing seventh two years ago with only 16 gold medals.

Myanmar has lined up 33 sports and 460 events, including non-traditional disciplines such as kenpo, chilone and vovinam. The host also excluded baseball, softball and tennis while loading up traditional boat race, where Myanmar won 11 gold medals in Indonesia, with 16 events.

“With this kind of system, it’s impossible for us to improve our sixth place (36 gold medals) last time,” said Garcia. “I suggest that we just send athletes from priority sports or Olympic sports.”