MANILA—From 900 to 400.
That’s the main target of the Southeast Asian Games working group which has until September to prune down the swollen Philippine roster to the biennial games slated in Indonesia from Nov. 11 to 24.
Deputy chief of mission Julian Camacho said they are looking at green-lighting just 400 or “450 at the most” when they submit the list of entries by names to the Philippine Olympic Committee executive board.
“It reached 900 because in the entry by numbers you tend to submit the names of everything like what we did in wushu,” said Camacho who is wushu secretary general. “But of course not everyone will be included. It’s better to just cut than add to the list.”
He also defended the creation of “team leaders” whom many feared would make the contingent bloated because there will be one assigned to each of the more than 40 competing national sports associations.
“They used to be called team managers only we wanted them to get involved and erase the impression that they will join the team to become tourists,” said Camacho. “This time as team leaders they really have to work and be part of the team.”
He said the team leaders were appointed by their own NSAs and are in direct contact with the SEA Games working group by helping monitor the progress of the training and preparation including their requirements and equipment.
Camacho said the team leaders need not be coaches but somebody inside the NSA. “Some NSAs even requested to have two or three leaders but we can only approve one each,” he added.
The POC’s ratio is one official for every two athletes.