The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), for the first half of 2020 alone, has released more than P351 million to sports of top Tokyo Olympic bets.
Despite mounting fiscal challenges and the numerous impositions restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez continue to make ends meet to sustain the agency’s support to the country’s golden Olympic dreams.
The PSC strives to cover all of its commitments to keep the Olympic gold dream even with a decreased budget after Bayanihan Act I took P596 million and P773 million from the sports agency’s National Sports Development Fund and funds from the General Appropriations Act (GAA), respectively.
“It has been quite a challenge but we hope to keep our commitment to fund and support our athletes who have shown strong determination and chances in winning our first Olympic gold,” said Ramirez.
Records show that the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) got the highest support from the agency with over P20.2 million, followed by the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) with P13 million and the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) which got P7.8 Million.
These are the three National Sports Associations (NSAs) where Olympic qualifiers, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, boxers Irish Magno and Eumir Marcial and gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo belong to.
Tokyo campaigner Carlos Edriel Yulo, who lives in Japan, is backed with more than P 3.8 million for the first half of 2020 to cover his living expenses, gymnastics training, and other miscellaneous expenditures.
He secured a slot in the Tokyo Olympiad when he won the gold medal in the Men’s Floor Exercise event in the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Stuttgart, Germany with a P7.6 million support from PSC in 2019.
The Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) received P11.2 Million, P3.8 million of which was to support the preparation of Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz.
Tokyo Olympic shoo-in Diaz has received the largest chunk from the PSC from January to June 2020 in support of her bid for the country’s first-ever gold in Tokyo Olympics.
The PSC funding covered her whole training camp in Malaysia for meals and allowances, including the budget for her foreign coach Kaiwen Gao and core team consisting of a sports science personnel, strength and conditioning coach, sports nutritionist, and a physical therapist.
Pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena headlining the Tokyo Games qualifiers is supported with almost P1.3 million for the first half of 2020. Last year, PSC gave a total of almost P12.5 million to Obiena, who is currently based in Italy for his preparations for the Games.
Olympic-bound boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno along with 2019 AIBA World Boxing Champion Nesthy Petecio, Riza Pasuit, Carlo Paalam, James Palicte and Ian Clark Bautista received a cumulative amount of P5.3 million in 2019 which bore fruit in last year’s Southeast Asian Games with a total of 7 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze medals. The PSC also allocated a P1.7 million budget for the national pugilists from January to June 2020.
“We are doing what we can for our national athletes. We want them to stay focused on their goals and to stay positive while aspiring for Olympic glory. We want to remind them that PSC is always here to help them achieve success in any way that is possible.” said the sports chief.
