Olympic event NSAs seek IATF OK

Olympic aspirants from rowing, fencing, archery, BMX cycling, 3×3 basketball, karatedo, taekwondo, table tennis, weightlifting, canoe-kayak and wrestling are ready to spring back into action pending the approval of their resumption guidelines by the government.

National training director Marc Velasco said health professionals from the Philippine Sports Commission-Medical Scientific Athletes (PSC-MSAS) Services unit have been holding meetings with these national sports associations (NSAs), whose athletes are itching to return to training in time for their respective qualifying meets for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

“The PSC recognizes that our Olympic hopefuls need to maintain momentum and they can do that by going back to focused training,” said Velasco, also the PSC chief of staff.

Philippine Olympic Committee secretary general Edwin Gastanes represented the local Olympic body during the series of talks with the NSAs, including associations that already have qualifiers prior to the coronavirus global health crisis.

Track and field’s EJ Obiena (pole vault) and world champion gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo have made it to Tokyo and are presently training in Italy and Japan, respectively, while fellow qualifiers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno of boxing are waiting for the green light to resume their preparations here in the country.

The PSC-MSAS unit has already briefed Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary general Ed Picson, Philippine Fencing Association president Richard Gomez and secretary general Jercyl Lerin from the Philippine Rowing Association.

“The PSC-MSAS will consolidate the proposals from the sports bodies concerning training resumption, especially for Olympics sports, and submit a recommendation to the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases for approval,” Velasco said. INQ