PSC to prioritize Olympic sports

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez said his administration will be more generous in giving financial assistance especially to so-called Olympic sports in an effort to boost the country’s campaign in the Tokyo Olympiad.

“The common complaint is walang pera, walang exposure (no budget allocation, no exposure). Let’s try this administration. I’m willing to double the budget, get them the best foreign training and foreign exposure,” Ramirez said.

The PSC chief said the board is geared towards a shift in policy where athletes in sports that are part of the Olympic program will get higher priority.

“We’ll prioritize Olympic sports over Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games. You may be No. 1 in SEA Games and Asian Games but are you up to Olympic level? So our focus will be on the Olympics. Where do have a good chance to win a medal in the Olympics?” he said.

He mentioned Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting and table tennis star Ian Lariba as among the athletes whom the PSC will “take good care of.”

“If you like to dream and hope for medals in the Olympics, we should provide the basic requirements of a potential medalist. If we can provide decent living quarters, food and nutrition, exposure, and the likes, we should expect a medal,” he said.

The planned revival of the Philippine Sports Institute, he claimed, should help the potential Tokyo bets.

“The Sports Institute will have sports medicine, sports psychologist, nutritionist, physiologist, Athletes’ career Education, strength and conditioning, etc,” he said.