Training 'bubble' eyed for Tokyo Olympic-bound athletes
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Sports Commission is planning to train Tokyo-bound athletes and Olympic hopefuls in one place should government give the green light for them to resume training.
“We can have them in a bubble,” said PSC National training director Marc Velasco os Saturday.
Velasco’s statement came a couple of days after the sports-funding agency teamed up with the Philippine Olympic Committee in pushing to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the resumption of the country’s Olympic preparation that was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea came from the National Basketball Association, which will host the league restart in one venue in Orlando, Florida.
If the IATF says it’s a go, boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno (who have already made the cut) along with gymnast Caloy Yulo (who is in Japan) and pole-vaulter EJ Obiena (who is in Italy), will now be allowed to train along with several Tokyo aspirants.
Among them are world champion female pug Nesthy Petecio, skateboarder Margie Didal, taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and karatekas Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim.
Included in the proposal for training exemptions are para-athletes headed by swimmer Ernie Gawilan, who was the first to qualify to Tokyo, and table tennis’ Josephine Medina, who recently received an invitation that put her a heartbeat away from qualifying to the Paralympics.
Velasco said guidelines and protocols have already been set.
“We did that with athletes who stayed at PhilSports. We facilitated their transit since Metro Manila is high-risk and they are going to their low-risk provinces,” said Velasco. “So we did tests on them, but at the same time, we kept them in a bubble.
“Through that, we were able to guarantee the athletes were not exposed, which is confirmed by tests, and then we made sure that even their transport was controlled by PSC,” he added.
PSC officer-in-charge Ramon Fernandez stresses the Olympic athletes remain their priority.
“We are working toward the approval and hoping to get the go-signal from the IATF first,” said the four-time MVP and 19-time PBA champion.
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