POC wants priority sports study

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has asked the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for an in-depth study of the priority sports set to be funded heavily by the government sports agency.

POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. said the list would be submitted to President Aquino for approval after the PSC has narrowed it down to sports where promising Olympic medalists, world and Asian champions could emerge.

Cojuangco also encouraged the inclusion of disciplines focused on the physical fitness of the youth, a departure from the PSC’s objective of naming sports based on their medal-winning chances.

The POC move was triggered by a Presidential request where the PSC was tasked to identify just 10 out of the 50 sports, which the government will fully support.

Sports officials refused to divulge the priority sports but sources say that medal-rich disciplines like swimming, athletics, shooting, and combat sports boxing and taekwondo are strong candidates.

PSC chair Richie Garcia said they would come up with the final list within the month and announce the favored sports during the POC general assembly.

The PSC concept of selecting 150 elite athletes coming from the medalists of the recent Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Indonesia was also received well by the POC but Garcia stressed they would cast a wider net to identify these talents.

The 150 elite athletes will be groomed to win gold medals in the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar.

The PSC is allocating P100 million for these athletes, while another P100 million will be set aside for the 10 priority sports.