Philippine Olympic Committee named 152 athletes to compete in SEA Games

Friday, August 30, 2013

Philippine Olympic Committee named 152 athletes to compete in SEA Games

A total of 152 athletes have been initially named to the Philippine team that will compete in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December.

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) bared the partial roster yesterday and said another 100 athletes may be included in the list pending the result of their performances in the coming weeks, said POC chairman Tom Carrasco yesterday.

The under-23 football team, whose officials and coaches have lobbied furiously even offering to pay the plane fare, did not make the grade but the women’s football team called the Malditas will be going.

The breakdown as released by the POC, are as follows:

Swimming, including diving, has five, archery (4), athletics (20), badminton (2), basketball (12), billiards (3), boxing (10), canoeing (2), chess (4), cycling (9), equestrian (3), women’s football (20), golf (7), judo (1), karatedo (8), Muay (3), pencak silat (2), rowing (5), sailing (4), windsurfing (1), sepak takraw (3), shooting (2), table tennis (2), taekwondo (16), weightlifting (2) and wrestling (2).

Wushu is still in the final stages of forming its team and the members will be announced by the time the SEAG deadline (entry by names) in mid-September.

Myanmar SEAG chief of mission Jeff Tamayo said he expects the final number to be in the lower 200s by the time the deadline expires a month before the start of the SEAG.

The Philippines won’t be sending athletes in vovinam, bodybuilding, chinlone, petanque, kempo, hockey and volleyball.

Carrasco said a lot of overseas events are taking part in the coming months and those vying to join the Myanmar SEAG will have to make waves and convince the POC that they are capable of winning the gold medal in their respective events.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia is predicting a poor performance for the delegation, maybe sixth or seventh place, because many events where the Philippines can compete for medals are not included in the Myanmar games.

Over the past several SEA Games, the Philippines has not placed better than fifth. In 2007 the team was sixth, 2009 (fifth) and 2011 (sixth). It won the overall crown, however, in 2005 when the country hosted the event.