Philippines seeks SEAG podium finish with 626-man contingent

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines will field in a total of 626 athletes from 39 sports as it shoots for at least a podium finish in the 31st Southeast Asian Games set November 21 to December 2 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino on Friday sent Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez through commissioner and Hanoi chef-de-mission Ramon Fernandez the 10-page list of the country’s entry by numbers to the biennial games.

The number was more than half of the 1,115 fielded in the last SEAG edition in Manila two years ago when the country ran away with the overall title after a historic haul of 149 gold, 117 silver and 121 bronze medals.

“After a careful review, this has been prepared with the end mind of victory for our beloved country, to be able to do our best and continue to defend our title as overall champion of the 30th edition of the SEAG,” said Tolentino.

Of the list, athletics, which emerged with the second best haul for the Filipinos with 11 golds, eight silvers and eight bronzes behind only to arnis’ 14, will have the biggest delegation with 63 — 38 men and 25 women — followed by cycling’s 39.

Team sports like basketball, volleyball, football and handball will have 38, 36, 28 and 10 entries, respectively.

Gymnastics, led by Tokyo-bound world champion Caloy Yulo, will send 25 along with taekwondo’s 24, fencing’s 24, wushu’s 21, chess’ 20 and canoe-kayak’s 19.

Also entered were esports (18), aquatics (17), judo (17), pencak silat (16), shooting (16), karate (15), weightlifting (14), boxing (13), rowing (13), wrestling (13), kickboxing (12), muay thai (12), bodybuilding (10).

Billiards and snooker (8), dancesport (8), tennis (8), golf (7), archery (6), badminton (6), bowling (6), jiu-jitsu (6), sepak takraw (6), vovinam (6), fin swimming (5) and table tennis (3) complete the list.

Training of SEAG-bound athletes have actually started in bubble set ups in the provinces but the full-blown training of all of them have been scheduled to open on April 15 in various venues in the country.