Swimming, weightlifting elite no more

MANILA, Philippines — Medal-rich swimming and weightlifting lost their elite status under the Philippine Sports Commission’s priority program for lack of a development plan and failure to show its worth in international competitions last year.

PSC chair Richie Garcia Wednesday said both Olympic sports have been dropped from the priority list after a thorough evaluation by the government sports agency and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

“It was proposed during the board meeting to drop swimming and weightlifting from the priority program considering their lack of grassroots programs and nonperformance,” said Garcia.

The Philippine Aquatics Sports Association is the NSA for swimming headed by Mark Joseph while Roger Dullano is the new president of Philippine Weightlifting Association.

“Although we participated in the Olympics, our weightlifters didn’t perform in the SEA Games. They have to revive the advantage of Filipinos in weight category events,” said Garcia.

Garcia pointed out that only four swimmers who competed in the last SEA Games came up with bronze medals, including Jasmine Alkhaldi, who first won her event then finished third in the re-swim ordered by organizers due to a false start.

“They have to start all over again, come up with a good grassroots program and develop athletes,” Garcia said.