POC thumbs down Monico's plan

The Philippine Olympic Committee has rebuffed the plan of Monico Puentevella to have the Philippine Weightlifting Association replaced by the Samahang Weightlifing sa Pilipinas (SWP) as the national sports association for the Olympic sport.

In a letter dated July 10, POC secretary-general Patrick Gregorio denied Puentevella’s appeal to have the PWA replaced as one of the recognized members of the POC.

“The new association that you represent–the Samahang Weightlifting sa Pilipinas– needs to comply with the membership requirements of the POC. In which case, the old Philippine Weightlifting Association would need to be de-listed as a member of the POC before the application of the new association can be entertained,” Gregorio said in his letter to Puentevella.

Gregorio also rebuffed Puentevella’s request to have himself recognized as the president of the PWA and said that the POC records identifies Robert Dullano as the PWA president with Elbert Atillano and Jesus Himotas as the vice-president and secretarygeneral, respectively.

That statement is the POC’s way of telling Puentevella that for the PWA to be de-listed, the move has to come from the concerned officials themselves and not the new organization that is planning to replace them.

Despite Hidilyn Diaz’s winning a silver medal in weightlifing in the Rio Olympics in 2016, the sport has beein in a doldrum due to problems with the NSA, forcing stakeholders in Cebu to form their own group, the Cebu Weightlifting Association to hep the cultivate the sport.

The CWA, led by Felix Tiukinhoy, has also staged its own national students championships with Diaz as one of the guests. However, the CWA isn’t joining the infaction of the NSA and is willing to be part of whichever NSA the POC will recognize.

The group has also sent athletes to the Pre Youth and Youth International Weightlifting Championship in Bali Indonesia two weeks ago and will be sending another pair to represent the Philippines in the Universiade.