BY NICK GIONGCO
SIX sports – surfing, jujitsu, kurash, sambo, bridge and modern pentathlon – have been embraced as regular members by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).
The approval of the six, done during Tuesday’s General Assembly, brought the number of POC voting members to 51, including two members of the Athletes’ Commission and International Olympic Committee representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.
POC president Bambol Tolentino said the inclusion of the six sports was voted unanimously.
Tolentino, widely credited for the Philippines’ rousing success in the winning the overall crown of the 30th Southeast Asian Games, said these sports are being played in the Asian region.
Meanwhile, Tolentino likewise revealed that even the silver and bronze medalists during the SEAG are also going to be rewarded for their efforts.
“I was even criticized for deciding to give the silver and bronze medalists cash incentives and I told them to just sue me,” said Tolentino, who declined to name the two POC members who raised an issue over the decision to award the non-gold medal winners.
“I would like to ask them this: Is it bad to give?”
There were 149 gold, 119 silver and 121 bronze medals harvested by the hosts during the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 SEAG.
