Search for foreign-based Filipino athletes begins

PHILIPPINE Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia announced yesterday that he has turned to the Filipino communities in Spain and Argentina for help in searching for athletes who could play for the country in international competitions.

“I have spread the word that we are looking for (foreign athletes with Filipino heritage) who might be interested in playing for the country,” said Garcia, who recently arrived from a three-week trip to Europe and South America.
He visited Madrid and Buenos Aires where big communities of Filipinos reside.

“I met our countrymen in these countries and urged them to help us find athletes with Filipino blood,” said Garcia, who also exchanged notes with Spanish and Argentinian officials on sports management and development.

The PSC chief said he urged the leaders of Filipino communities to send the full credentials of the athletes to the Philippine Olympic Committee, which, in turn, will endorse the athletes to the national sports associations.

Aside from Madrid and Buenos Aires, Garcia and PSC executive director Guillermo Iroy also met with top sports officials in Brasilia, the football hotbed in Brazil, before dropping by the US Olympic training center in San Diego, California.

“It was a very fruitful trip,” said Garcia. “The sports officials in these countries are more than willing to help us either by sending resource individuals or coaches to develop our young athletes. We’ll be in touch with the personalities that we talked.”