Vietnam SEAG-bound Team Philippines down by half from Manila edition
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine team bound for the 31st Southeast Asian Games slated November 21 to December 2 in Hanoi, Vietnam will have almost half of the total number of delegation it fielded when it emerged overall champion in the 2019 edition.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino counted the entry by numbers to 560 athletes from the online consultation meetings he had with the 38 national sports associations competing in the biennial meet.
“That’s the number we have right now,” said Tolentino.
The 560 paled in comparison to the 1,081 athletes it sent when the country hosted the SEAG.
The 1,081 was the biggest among the 11 nation who participated in 2019, resulting to the Filipinos running away with the overall title with a historic gold medal haul of 149 on top of 117 silver and 121 bronze medals.
But it was mostly because the host country slashed its events to just 40 — all Olympic sports — compared to the 60 played two years back.
Of the 40, the country will join only in 38.
Despite the massive cut, Tolentino and Philippine Sports commissioner and the country’s chef de mission to Hanoi Ramon Fernandez are still looking for at least a third-place finish overall.
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