MANILA, 24 May — Malacanang has approved the holding of the Palarong Pambansa on its original schedule, June 3-9, sticking to assurances of success given by Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Eric Buhain.

Buhain said the Palace had set the schedule, rejecting the Department of Education’s request to delay the event in Naga City by at least five more days.

Buhain said he has already informed the DepEd, through Undersecretary Ramon Bacani, of Malacanang’s decision on the final schedule.

Earlier, Education Secretary Raul Roco took the cue from President Arroyo’s order to go on with the Palarong Pambansa as he, along with his regional directors, pledged their full support and cooperation to the PSC.

Roco and the 16 regional directors met with Buhain and Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella at the Dusit Hotel, where they threshed out their differences and agreed to work for the success of the Palaro.

The DepEd’s regional directors had wanted to move the games to January 2003 but Mrs. Arroyo had ordered that the event be held as scheduled next month.

“We were able to thresh out our differences. Sabi nga ni Undersecretary Ramon Bacani, let’s not talk about the past, let’s move on and work for the success of the Palaro,” Buhain said.

Roco, who had actually arranged for that meeting between Buhain and the regional directors, also expressed his 100 percent support for the endeavor in a separate meeting with Buhain and Mrs. Arroyo.

“Sec. Roco is in full support and he’s very much looking forward for the success of the Palaro. He told me to just assure him of sporting excellence and I told him I’m very confident the Palarong Pambansa players will be competing for excellence,” the PSC chief said.

Buhain, meanwhile, renewed his promise to grant the regional directors’ request for an additional 10-million pesos funding.

The amount, he said, will cover the 16 regions’ expenses in transportation within Naga, an increase in the daily meal allowance of each participant to 250 pesos from 150 pesos; and the parade uniforms of all contingents.

“Since we are not sending delegations to the Arafura Games and the Summer Youth Camp has been canceled, the PSC has enough funds to heed their request,” Buhain said.

The PSC had disbursed a total of 32 million pesos to the regional directors, the delay of which was one of the main reasons cited by the Mancom for its decision to scrap the 2002 edition.

FedEx Tour stakes 1 million

pesos to top riders

In an effort to draw out the best from the country’s top cyclists, Airfreight 2100, the sole franchisee of FedEx in the Philippines, is giving away close to 1 million pesos in prizes when the FedEx Express Tour kicks off with the inaugural four-day Calabarzon race on May 30.

Topping off the prize breakdown is the 200,000 pesos pot for the team champion, and the 50,000 pesos purse for the individual titlelist of the event reviving the annual Tour.

“We are hoping that these cash incentives will be an added boost to the cyclists. More important, this will also put them back into preparation because, now, they know they have the FedEx Express Tour to look forward to every summer,” said Bert Lina, chairman of Airfreight 2100 and the generous godfather of the Tour’s revival.

Also up for grabs, besides the trophies and medals, is the 15,000 pesos special pot for the cyclist who can meet the required time and speed marks to be announced by the Professional Cyclists Association of the Philippines (pcap), which was tasked to oversee the technical aspect of the Tour.

“Like we said earlier, this endeavor is not just for the sake of reviving the Tour. We want to bring the sport to a higher plane. And what better way to do that than to give our cyclists an incentive to improve on every year by setting marks they will have to meet and giving them a bonus if they meet them,” said Lito Alvarez, Airfreight 2100 president and Tour organizer.

“The way this special pot is set up, every year we will raise the standard as far as speed and time are concerned. That way, every year, the cyclists will push themselves harder to improve their performance,” said Mar Mendoza, the Tour’s project director.

The prizes in the four-day race is scaled down to the 10th placer in the team classification. The top 10 in the overall individual classification are also entitled to cash prizes.

The second placer in the team category will get 150,000 pesos, while the third placer will receive 100,000 pesos.

In the individual category, the runner-up will get 30,000 pesos and the third placer will get 25,000 pesos. There will also be cash prizes for the top five finishers in three of the four stages, amounting to 30,000 pesos.

The other stage, the team time trial (TTT), also offers 18,000 pesos to the top three placers. The overall leader in each of the three stages will pocket 3,000 pesos, while 10,000 pesos each will go to the winners of the King of the Mountain and the Sprint King awards.

A total of 60 cyclists have already confirmed their participation in the event, including the members of the national team.

Karatekas capture 3

golds in Czech meet

The Philippine karate team led by Ian George Jereos, captured three gold medals to finish fourth overall in the prestigious VII Czech Republic Karate Open championships in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic .

Jereos whipped top Yugoslavian kata player Radojeic Milos in the men’s finals after hurdling his earlier rivals from Lithuania, Germany, Poland and San Marino.

Cherli Tugday and Nestor Halili produced the two other RP golds in the kumite 60-kilogram and 53-kg events, respectively.

Tugday also captured a silver in the ladies’ kata competition while Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Gretchen Malalad, Brandy Mariano and youth bet Alvin Merk de Leon won a bronze each.

Tugday beat Czech Republic’s Skopkova Jana, while Halili beat another Czech, Kesi Ryu, 9-2, in their respective kumite matches.

Tugday fell to reigning world junior kata finalist Vasekova Miroslava after hurdling her opponents from Poland, North Ireland and Czechoslovakia.

Czech Republic emerged top finishers with 17 golds, followed by Slovakia with five golds, Latvia (4 golds), the Philippines and Germany (3 golds).

Manila leg of Grand

Prix lures big field

China and other athletics titans from Asia will compose the field seeing action in the third leg of the Asian Grand Prix on May 26 at the Rizal Memorial oval.

A total of 21 countries, including the Philippines, will field entries in the one-day athletics spectacle being organized by the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association.

Athletics chief Go Teng Kok said some 122 athletes, including the top six Asians in various events, will display their wares before Filipino fans.

Aside from China, the other countries fielding entries in the meet are Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyztan, Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Chinese-Taipei, Oman, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Eduardo Buenavista, a double gold medalist in last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, will lead Filipino athletes competing in the meet.

The winner in each event gets $2,000, with the runner-up receiving $1,000 and the third placer $500. To be able to collect the purse, however, competitors must see action in all three legs.