MANILA, Philippines – The president of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is up in arms over the plan to put up a beach volley sandcourt in the track oval at Philsports (formerly Ultra).
Philip Juico, the track and field chief, urged the Philippine Sports Commission to look for a better place to put up the sandcourt other than the inner field section of the oval.
Juico, PSC chairman under the Fidel V. Ramos administration, said they need the entire section of the inner field to train athletes in the throwing and jumping events.
“We are trying to develop our talents in the field events and now the PSC wants to put up a beach volley court in the track oval,” Juico told The STAR.
“We need that space, too. That’s where we train our athletes in javelin, discus, hammer throw, pole vault and other field events,” he said.
Athletes in shotput, high jump, long jump and triple jump also train in the field section of the oval.
“It’s out of the box. We will be the butt of jokes from our neighboring countries once they see a beach volley court inside the track oval,” Juico added.
PSC chairman Richie Garcia said the sandcourt “is out of the way and they (track athletes) can’t even reach the court.”
“They have the space. If they can reach the beach volley court with their hammer of javelin I will have the court removed. The more sports we have in a given area the better,” Garcia added.
A couple of years ago, track and field athletes had to move to Philsports after their training area at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex was turned into a football stadium.
“Pinaalis na nga nila kami sa Rizal Memorial Stadium dahil ginawa nilang football field yung dating track oval natin,” said Juico.
Track and field remains as one of the biggest sources of medals for the country in the Southeast Asian Games.
In the last SEA Games in Singapore last June, track and field provided the most number of medals for the country among the different sports.
Track and field delivered five gold, seven silver and nine bronze for a total of 21 medals, followed only by boxing with 5-3-2 and taekwondo with 3-3-2.