SELECTION OF SEASONED CYCLISTS CARRY FIGHT FOR PH IN SEAG

Ronald Oranza and Jan Paul Morales of the Philippine Navy-standard Insurance cycling squad ar el ooking to bring their accomplishments in the Rond ap ilipinas to t he 30th Southeast Asian Games.

“We have to wor kasa team if we wan t to win this,” said Morales i nf ilipino, the Philippine Navy skipper wh or uled the multistage bikathon twice an dt he anch oro f their dominance in t her onda.

They were handpicked by Philcycling under Philippine Olympi cc ommitt eep resident Abraham “Bambo l” T olentino to pedal hard f or t he g old medal i nf ou rro a dr ace events during the 11-nation Games in Tagayt ayc ity on Dec. 1 to 10.

Joini ng O ranza and Morales are Navy-standard Insurance teammates E lj oshua Cariño, Junrey Navarra, George Oconer and John Mark Camingao.

These rider sw ill be on the starti ng l ine of the massed sta rti ndividual an dt eam races asid ef rom the individual time an dt eam time trials.

“It’s hard to predict because anything can happen on race day itself,” said Oranza i nf ilipino, the 2018 Ronda champion.

According to Oranza, they have to watch out f ort he challenge that Malaysian and Indonesian rider sw ill offer.

Apart from t he f ou r ro ad event sf or men, ther ea r en ine more cycling races in BMX (3), mountai nb ike (2) and four events in t hew omen’s division wher ef ilipino rider scanw i na gold medal.

Meanwhile, Philippine Sport sc ommission Chair Butch Ramirez said next year ’sg overnment fundi ng f or t he national sports associatio nsw ould hinge entirely on their performance during the Games.

“We wi llf ocus our support tot ho sea thletes and NSAS that can perform well in t he S EA Games,” said Ramirez, the Team Philippines chef d em ission.

The Games fire off in less than six weeks and Team Philippines i sl ooking tod uplicate its 2005 feat when it won the overall title.