The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association is confident that its athletes to the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi from May 12 to 23 can stand their ground despite all the challenges.
“Most of those who won the gold or silver (in 2019) are still around. Most of them are in shape. Most of them have continued training,” said PATAFA president Philip Ella Juico yesterday.
The former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission, therefore, expects the national team to at least duplicate its 11-8-8 (gold-silver-bronze) haul when the country hosted the SEA Games in 2019.
“We can maintain that. We can say that this is very ideal,” Juico told the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
Juico said while Filipino athletes faced various difficulties caused by the two-year-old pandemic, the coaching staff has made sure the athletes are in great shape heading to the Hanoi SEA Games.
“We make do with what we have wherever we are. We cannot keep on complaining. We need to adjust,” Juico told the forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, MILO, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Amelie Hotel Manila and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
“We are not offering excuses for any possible lapses in the competition,” added Juico, who was joined in the forum by MILO Philippines assistant vice president Lester Castillo, PATAFA training director Renato Unso and coach Jeoffrey Chua.
Castillo reiterated MILO’s support to PATAFA, including performance trials scheduled to begin tomorrow in Baguio City then in Imus, Cavite and Philsports Arena in Pasig City, and the National Open by April.
Juico said while they are allowed to field 63 track bets in Hanoi, they are looking at 50 entries in 38 or 39 of the 44 events to be disputed. He said US-based athletes like Kayla Richardson, Kristina Knott, William Morrison, Natalie Uy and Eric Cray are in the thick of training for the SEA Games where they are the reigning champions.
Tokyo Olympics veteran and world No. 5 pole vaulter EJ Obiena, according to Juico, is currently off the list of national pool members.
“EJ Obiena is not on the national training pool list. We have to discuss that among ourselves in the PATAFA board but he’s not in the list right now,” said Juico of the reigning SEA Games champion.
“We have to look at his case if he wants to participate (in Hanoi). He has said he will ask for help from others. Let’s see what works,” added Juico.