POC to monitor improvement of national athletes

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) head Jose Cojuangco Jr. said that athletes selected by national sports associations (NSAs) for the SEA Games this November will be closely monitored to ensure that Team Philippines will perform well in Indonesia.

Cojuangco said that the POC gave the NSAs a March 2 deadline to submit a list of athletes that would possibly be included in the SEA Games line-up.

The names in the list will then be monitored by four cluster heads formed by the Southeast Asian Games Games Task Force throughout the year until the SEA Games draw near.

The SEA Games Task Force has assigned Manny Lopez, Jeff Tamayo, Mark Joseph and Akiko Thomson-Guevara as the cluster heads.

Cojuangco said that the POC will do away with the usual practice of selecting athletes for the SEA Games based on medal accomplishments in the past editions of the biennial meet.

“It’s an innovation. Some medal winners become relaxed when they are already selected, because they've passed the criterion of being medal winners," said Cojuangco in the POC’s radio program on dzSR.

Cojuangco said that the new policy will ensure that the athletes will not rest on their laurels once selected by their respective NSAs as candidates for the SEA Games.

“It is a process of elimination. We want the athletes to discipline themselves. We will eliminate those candidates that are not improving during their training," said Cojuangco.

Cojuangco said that the candidates will be given top-class training in their preparation for the biennial meet. (report from KY/RCJ, GMA News)