626 athletes vying in 39 sports in Vietnam Seag–tolentino
PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino wanted to make sure the country gets more opportunities to repeat as overall champions by expanding Team Philippines’s entry by numbers for the Vietnam 31st Southeast Asian Games.
Tolentino turned over to Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William Ramirez on Friday the documents containing Team Philippines’s entry by numbers for the Games Vietnam is hosting for the second time since 2003.
Team Philippines will be composed of 626 athletes who will be competing in 39 of the 40 sports on the Vietnam SEA Games program.
Previously, the POC announced a 560-athlete delegation to the November 21 to December 2 Games, but Tolentino said 66 athletes were added to the list following comprehensive discussions with officials of the 39 national sports associations involved.
“After a careful review—with the mindset of defending our overall title—we came up with these numbers,” said Tolentino, who personally presented the documents to Ramirez at the PSC offices at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Athletics topped the list with 63 athletes—38 men and 25 women, with basketball having 30—15 for gender, cycling 39, gymnastics 25, taekwondo 24, volleyball 30, football 28 and wushu 21.
Fencing had 24, esports 18, aquatics 17, boxing 13, canoe-kayak 19, pencak silat 16, golf seven, handball 10, judo 17, jiu-jitsu six, kickboxing 12, karatedo 15, kurash 10, muaythai 12, table tennis three, tennis eight, triathlon eight, beach volleyball six, weightlifting 14, wrestling 13, vovinam six and wushu 21.
Tolentino also said that with the turnover of documents, the PSC can now start deliberating on the budget for the athletes’ training, preparation and participation in Vietnam.
The discussions with NSAS on the entry by numbers were done in collaboration with PSC Commissioner Ramon Fernandez, Team Philippines chef de mission to the Vietnam games.