Sta. Rosa City together with other cities has offered to host athletes for the upcoming 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam after the Philippine Olympic Committee found it hard to find a place for their training because of the MECQ imposed over Metro Manila and four nearby provinces.
Tolentino will also ask for a special permit from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to allow athletes to continue training, despite the quarantine restrictions
AWARE that the country’s various sports organizations were having a hard time finding adequate areas to train their athletes because of the existing modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) imposed on Metro Manila and four nearby provinces, the city government of Sta. Rosa, Laguna has offered its athletic facilities to house players bound for the 31stSoutheast Asian Games in Vietnam.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino said that Mayor Arlene Arcillas had proposed to take in 50 athletes especially those training for indoor games or combat sports such as wrestling, judo and kurash, among others.
Aside from Sta. Rosa City, the cities of Tagaytay and Taguig have also offered to host training bubbles for SEA Games athletes.
Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano has agreed to accommodate athletes in volleyball and table tennis, while Tagaytay Mayor Agnes Tolentino will host those training for cycling and kickboxing disciplines.
Tolentino said the LGUs have agreed to provide the accommodation, food and training venue.
"For now, those three LGUs accepted the hosting of the bubble training for SEA Games-bound athletes. Our focus is not to solely rely on PSC venues. Let's give it to them for Covid-19 isolation areas or vaccination sites," he said.
Tolentino also explained that he will ask for a special permit from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to allow said athletes to continue training, despite the quarantine restrictions.
Vaccination is also a top priority for the POC, especially for Olympic-bound athletes.
Tolentino is looking to follow up an earlier request made by Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero to the IATF last January 26 to reclassify elite athletes as frontliners.
If the current vaccination priority lists are to be followed, athletes will be at the tail end of the order since they are young and healthier compared to the rest of the populace.
Also hoping to be in the priority list are other Tokyo-bound Filipinos like sports officials and journalists.
"We're just waiting for response, I called some officers of the IATF and remind Sec. [Carlito] Galvez about that for the prioritization of the national athletes bound for Tokyo. Maybe if it will be approved, they may be inoculated wherever hospital they go to," Tolentino said.
(ONT/ with report from Nicole Pulido)
Tags: #OpinYonLaguna, #StaRosaCity, #sportsbubble, #SEAGames