Team Philippines to the Vietnam 31st Southeast Asian Games will be composed of 560 athletes, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino announced on Thursday.
The Filipino athletes, Tolentino said, will be competing in 520 events in 38 of the 40 sports in the Vietnam SEA Games set from November 21 to December 2 this year.
Tolentino, however, said the number could still be reduced as they are basically entries by numbers culled from discussions with the various national sports associations early this week.
“The basis of selection primarily hinged on those athletes who won medals [of any color] in the 2019 SEA Games that we hosted,” Tolentino said. “We also looked at events where the potential of winning the gold medal is very high, as justified by an athlete or athletes performance in 2019.”
As host in 2019, the country fielded its biggest ever delegation at 1,115 athletes.
The Vietnam organizers set a March 21 deadline for the submission of entries by numbers. The deadline for the entries by names is in August.
The list was presented and approved by the POC executive board which met on Thursday afternoon at the East Ocean Seafoods Restaurant in Parañaque City.
