Carrion: Prepare early for SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - The chef-de-mission of the Philippine delegation to this year’s SEA Games said anything done at the last minute would not help the country as it heads to the competition.

“The job is already hard but it gets harder if things are done at the last minute,” said Cynthia Carrion, who’s making sure everything goes smoothly for the delegation.

The Philippines is fielding no more than 493 athletes, not including officials, to the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games from Aug. 19 to 31, and it’s not easy to plan things for the entire delegation.

With just over two months left, Carrion reminded all the NSAs (national sports associations) vying in this year’s SEAG to inform the SEA Games task force of all their needs – while there’s time.

The Philippine Sports Commission is taking care of all their training and competition requirements for the Filipino athletes who will compete in 37 of 38 sports in this SEA Games calendar.

But Carrion said there’s a lot more to be done, including facilitating the transportation and board and lodging of the members of the Philippine delegation.

The athletes, according to the chef-de-mission, have their own competition schedules, and therefore have their own plans flying in and out of Malaysia.

“It really depends on the schedule of their competition,” said Carrion, president of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines.

“There are sports that want to go there early like five days before their competition. We have to request all of that. Everything has to be in order,” she said.

Carrion cited the case of the squash team that will be competing in Singapore shortly before the SEA Games, and instead of flying back to Manila they would rather fly straight to Malaysia.

“They need to request early. That’s all we ask – an early request.  If the PSC accepts or rejects, then we’ll see. Just don’t do it at the last minute because it gets harder,” added Carrion.