SANCTIONS may be imposed, boycotts could take place and a separate regional championship could be organized as a consequence if all eight events deleted in athletics are not reinstated in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games.
Philippine Athletics Track and Field president Philip Ella Juico said this after attending an executive council meeting of the Philippine Olympic Committee last Wednesday.
Juico, who submitted a letter of appeal to the POC last week, said organizers in Malaysia must realize that events like decathlon, heptathlon, men’s and women’s marathon, the 3000-meter steeplechase and the 10,000 meter should always be in the calendar.
“Hind ba dapat? It’s not a new game, they’re not parlor games that are being introduced. It’s an ancient tradition to have them. It’s the basis of all sports,” said Juico in an interview with The Standard.
Organizers of the 29th Games met two weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur, ratifying the initial list of 34 sports and 342 events, with ice hockey and ice skating added for the first time.
Futsal, a form of five-a-side football, is there, while heptathlon and 3,000 meters were among other athletics’ events scrapped, along with Olympic staples fencing, judo and canoeing.
Juico felt that the non-inclusion of the eight events is considered a disrespect to the Olympic movement.
If they are added in the coming months, Juico sad the PATAFA may be forced to withdraw its participation the athletics’ meet.
As vice president of the Asian Athletics Association, Juico added that he will encourage member-countries not to send athletes as well and seek sanctions to those who will not comply.
He added that they will ask the AAA to stage regional championship at the same time when the Games are held.
There were other sports disciplines, which had reduction in events, and these include wushu, boxing, weightlifting, tennis, volleyball, cycling and rugby.
There are other Olympic sports which were scrapped, including rowing, triathlon, dragon boat and wrestling.