Team Philippines Chef de Mission William Ramirez believes that it is possible to reclaim the ‘Miracle of SEAG 2005’ with just 106 days to go before the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games slated from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11, this year.
“Para sa akin, hindi imposible na mag-champion tayo kasi host tayo. At malaki itong budget na inasikaso natin.” said Ramirez on Wednesday during the tripartite agreement signing between Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine SEA Games Organizational Committee Inc. at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Manila.
With the P6-billion budget for the SEA Games’ hosting this year, Ramirez said that there is no reason not to also wish for an overall championship.
“Hindi totoo ‘yan na pupunta ng Southeast Asian Games na okay lang ang 3rd or 4th. Bakit pa tayo gagastos ng 6-billion kung hindi tayo magcha-champion?” he added.
When it comes to the medal projection, Ramirez said that it is the call of each NSA President and Secretary General to set medal targets, not the CDM, POC or PHISGOC. This is also one of the the reasons why Ramirez is meeting them as much as he could.
“Every week, Monday and Tuesday we have been meeting Presidents and Secretaries General of the NSAs. We try to set up the possible medal goals of each NSA,” Ramirez said.
This year’s SEA Games’ hosting is not new to Ramirez for he was also the Chairman of the PSC during the 2005 edition when the country claimed its first overall championship with a total medal collection of 113-gold, 84-silver and 94-bronze medals.
With this in mind, the CDM explained that “we have to remove that idea na hindi tayo mag-cha-champion. There must be an ROI (Return of Investment), malaki ‘yung ginastos ng gobyerno.” he said.
Furthermore, Ramirez also stressed the full support of the PSC to the foreign training of the national athletes in preparation for the SEAG.
“The PSC has already appropriated P600 million for the foreign training of our athletes and we are appropriating P400 to P600 million more,” added Ramirez, who explained that the additions would cover those for sports which were added by PHISGOC recently.
Aside from the foreign training and exposure, the PSC has also allotted additional budget for the sporting equipment of the national athletes in order to level up their training less than 4 months to go before the biennial meet.
This year will mark the fourth time that the country will host the biennial meet as it previously hosted the 1981, 1991 and 2005 Games.
A total of 9840 athletes from 11 Southeast Asian countries are expected to participate in the 30th SEA Games which will feature 530 events in 56 sports.