THE Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) said on Monday that it would request major funding for the country’s top men’s curling team and other Winter Games sports.
POC President Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino said the recent success of the Philippine Curling Team is enough for the government to extend financial assistance for the team’s training, allowances, and competition abroad.
“You did not ask how they survive without the support of the government? They were just recently recognized by the POC. If we meet the President, we will make a [funding] request to support their journey to the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games,” Tolentino said during the team’s media presentation at the Knights Templar Hotel in Tagaytay City.
“They are paying their expenses every time, and it’s not a joke. So we need that financial support to sustain and we’re preparing for all the competitions, even the developmental stage,” Tolentino added.
The foreign-based Filipino curlers flew directly to Manila from a gold medal triumph in the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China.
Tolentino added that that the Filipino curling team is entitled to receive P2 million cash incentives from the government under the Republic 10699 or the Athletes Incentives Act.
“We will also request for other winter sports too like for our alpine skiers, figure skaters, snowboarders, freestyle skiers, short track speed skaters because they are training very hard to represent our country in these overseas competitions.”
The Tagaytay City Mayor is planning to ask Malacanang directly for this matter.
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is the government agency mandated by law to assist and finance all amateur sports in the country. Ironically, the current PSC Chairman Richard ‘Dickie’ Bachmann is not on good terms with Tolentino. It is an open book in the sports community about the misunderstanding between the country’s top two sports leaders.
Filipino-Swiss Marc Pfister, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister, Alen Frei and alternate Curling Pilipinas President Benjo Delarmente, and Marc’s wife Jessica who also served as their coach during the matches have expressed their gratitude to Tolentino and the POC for
“We would like to thank everyone here for helping and supporting us in this journey. It’s a great testament to show that we as a tropical country can play the sport and make success. We made everybody proud,” Haller, 45, a former Swiss national curling team, said from Zurich.
Pfister’s 16-week pregnant wife Jessica, according to the Curling Pilipinas, is eyeing naturalization to also represent the women’s team as a Filipino citizen in the future.
“That’s something new for us, a great opportunity to represent the Philippines in the Olympics or the world,” Pfister, 35, who represented Switzerland in three world championships, said. “We are Filipinos, and we’re very proud of it.”
Marc’s younger 33-year-old brother Enrico also shared the same sentiment, saying they are thankful for all the support and opportunities extended by the POC.
Some of them are all expected to leave Manila on Tuesday.
The men’s team rerouted their travel to their respective countries due to their accomplishments – where they beat World No. 10 Japan, 10-4, in the qualification before dismantling host No. 17 China, 7-6, in the semifinal and surprisingly stunning No. 7 South Korea, 5-3, in Friday's final match.
The Filipinos ended the round-robin campaign with a 4-1 win-loss slate – their only loss came from South Korea in the elimination, 1-6 but got their revenge just on time.
“It’s wow, and amazing that we won our first ever Winter Games gold, not only by the Philippines but the whole Southeast Asian countries. It was two days after Thailand won Southeast Asia’s first medal, which is the bronze medal,” Tolentino said as he introduced the men’s curling team to the media.
Speaking of reaching the Milano Cortina Winter Games in February next year in Italy, there are two ways to reach the Olympics – one is the pre-Olympic qualifying in September where the top three teams will qualify and the top two in December’s Olympic qualification aside from points allocation.
No venues and dates have been announced so far.
But the Filipinos have only two-way chances to qualify for the Winter Olympics – and that’s trying to secure a quota in the Pre-Olympic Qualifying event and the Olympic qualification – since they are far from the points allocation.
“There are only two ways to qualify, and that’s to be top three in the pre-Olympic and top two in the Olympic qualification,” Delarmente said. “But I believe our players will fight for it just like they did in Harbin.”
For Secretary-General Jarryd Bello, chances are huge in the two qualifications right now. “If we beat China and South Korea, there’s a chance to be on top of these two events. It is not impossible. In points allocation, it is impossible because we’re far,” Bello said.
The Philippines ranks 51st and only has 1.318 points – very far from the world’s No. 1 Sweden’s 84.085.
Ten nations each for men, women, and mixed doubles will get Olympic qualification where host Italy is part of it as host nation.
