MANILA, 9 August — The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has approved a new scheme that would enabled "potential athletes" to qualify under the criteria set by the Asian Games task force for the Busan Asian Games.

POC President Celso Dayrit said under the scheme, athletes aged 22 years and below who have the potential to excel by 2005, would be given slots in the Philippine contingent to the Sept. 29-Oct. 14 Games in South Korea.

"The scheme is to allow at least one athlete in individual sports to join the delegation. The rationale here is that the 22-year-old athlete who is a potential based on the recommendation of the national sports associations (NSAs), would be a gold medal contender in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games," said Dayrit.

"But we have to underscore the fact that only one from each of the individual sports is to be included in the delegation," Dayrit stressed.

Expected to benefit from the scheme are athletes from tennis, table tennis, badminton and squash, who have not passed the stringent standard used by the task force in screening members of the Busan squad.

According to Dayrit, the NSAs have been told to nominate an athlete each.

This is not actually the first time the POC has adopted such a scheme. Back in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Olympic body allowed individual athletes to join the RP team with the purpose of molding them for the 1991 Manila SEA Games. The country hauled 90 golds, losing by one gold the overall championship to Indonesia.

"The only difference here is that unlike in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the POC is setting an age limit of 22 years old this time. It has been a consensus among the board that generally, the athlete could be at his peak at 25 in time for the 2005 SEA Games," Dayrit said. So far, 170 athletes from 22 sports have qualified for the Busan team. The task force headed by chief of mission Tom Carrasco has projected the athletes in the team would not exceed 200.

Paeng wins S. Korea bowlfest

Four-time World Cup champion Paeng Nepomuceno flashed vintage form as he bagged the men’s masters title of the Korea International Open Championships in Busan.

The 45-year-old Filipino lefty burned the lanes of the Home Plus Asiad Bowling Center — the same site where matches for the Sept. 29-Oct. 14 Asian Games will be held — with a total of 213 pinfalls, routing RP team coach Purvis Granger (182) in an all-Filipino final Monday night.

The victory was worth 7,000,000 won (roughly P3 million) for Nepomuceno, currently on a comeback trail after undergoing a complicated wrist surgery two years ago.

Granger, the top qualifier at the end of the eliminations, settled for runner-up honor worth 35,000,000 won (around P150,000).

Entries from Malaysia, Singapore, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and Guam saw action in the tournament largely considered as a prelude to the Asiad.

The feat came in the heels of the Filipinos’ triumphant campaign in last month’s 17th Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships held in Hong Kong where the country won three gold medals courtesy of Liza del Rosario (singles and all events) and the pair of Biboy Rivera and Chester King (men’s double). Nepomuceno finished a strong third among the 16 qualifiers in the men’s masters. He defeated Singapore’s Tom Hahl in the second match of the stepladder finals, 212-194, before downing Korea’s Dong San Gon, 189-172, to arrange the championship showdown with Granger.

CJ Suarez (7th) and Rivera (8th) were the other Filipinos who qualified in the men’s masters but failed to make the stepladder finals. Botchok Rey, RJ Bautista and King didn’t make the masters cutoff.

Caoili grabs two

norms in chess

The Philippines’ Arianne Caoili recently secured a Women’s Grandmaster and an Open International Master norm with an outstanding performance in the Federation Group Australian Masters International Chess Tournament held in Melbourne, Australia.

The 15-year-old Caoili finished third with eight points in the event which showcased Australia’s finest chess players including representatives from England, New Zealand and France.

The competition was intense and leadership of the tournament changed hands several times with Caoili and International Masters Guy West and Michael Gluzman of Australia sharing the lead going into the final round.

Caoili battled for hours to try and overpower IM Mirko Rujevik of Australia. But after a 120-move marathon, the youthful Filipino had to concede a draw.

One gold for wushu in Asiad

The Wushu Federation of the Philippines (WFP) is brimming with confidence that its athletes would bring home the gold medal in the Busan Asian Games after scoring resounding victories in the prestigious 1st Sanshou-Wushu World Cup held recently in Shanghai, China.

The event, which attracted 11 nations led by wushu powerhouse China, Poland, Romania, USA, Italy, Vietnam, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, France and Egypt, showcased the world’s top sanshou-wushu athletes.

A total of 44 participants, who all had to undergo qualifying rounds in the World Championships held September of last year in Armenia, competed in the World Cup.

The Philippines’ Joseph Pasiwat, Eric Kelly and Eduardo Folayang powered their way to bronze medals in the 56, 65, and 75 kg weight divisions, respectively, of the full contact wushu event.

Olympians provide spunk

for tae kwon do

A total of 12 taekwondo jins, honed by a former world champion from South Korea and toughened by exposures abroad, will spearhead the Philippines’ drive for seven gold medals in the coming Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. Sydney Olympics veterans Roberto Cruz, Donald Geisler and Eva Marie Ditan lead the 12-man roster that Philippine Taekwondo Association vice president Sung Chon Hong believed will be capable of snaring a medal each in the Sept. 29-Oct. 14 Asiad.

Hong, who submitted the final lineup to the joint Philippine Olympic Committee-Philippine Sports Commission Asian Games task force, said the 12 jins were carefully selected in a year-long program that has taken the national pool to various parts of the world.

He also expressed belief the system employed by South Korean coach Kim Tae Hyung would work for the Filipino jins. Hong, who was designated attache by the Busan Asian Games organizing committee, said the PTA has given him "the blanket authority" to train the jins this time, unlike in 2000 when their Korean mentor only played minor role in implementing the training program.

The team underwent training in Korea last May, an effort that is aimed at knowing the European style of play and competed in tough tournaments like the Asian championships in Amman, Jordan and the World Cup of Taekwondo in Japan where Ditan pocketed a bronze.

Joining Cruz, a five-time Southeast Asian Games champion and bronze medalist in the 2001 World Championships, and Geisler, silver winner in the 2000 Asian championships in the men’s team, are flyweight Tshomlee Go (2001 World Cup silver medalist); bantam Manuel Rivero (2001 SEAG third placer); light Alexander Briones (2001 World Junior championship bronze medalist); and middle Dindo Simpaor (2002 Asian championships runner-up).

Tasked to carry the fight in the women’s side alongside Ditan are flyweight Daleen Cordero (2002 Asian championship bronze medalist); feather Kalindi Tamayo (2000 Asian runner-up); welter Veronica Domingo (2001 SEAG champion); middle Sally Solis (2000 Asian bronze winner); and heavy Margarita Bonifacio (2002 Asian third-placer).

PSC in tie-up with Cuba

Cuban sports leaders have agreed to lend the Philippines their talent identification program, a scheme that has consistently given Cuba medals in boxing, baseball, volleyball, athletics, judo and wrestling, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairperson Eric Buhain said.

The PSC will give the different national sports associations (NSAs) copies of the programs he obtained during his visit to Cuba, Buhain said.

"I hope I can convince the NSA heads to take advantage of this opportunity," he said.

Buhain signed the agreement in Havana with Humberto Rodriguez Gonzales, president of the National Institute of Cuban Physical Education and Recreation.

Under the agreement, the Philippines can send athletes for training in Cuba, and vice versa.

The Philippines will also get priority in hiring Cuban coaches, similar to what the PSC did when the boxing association tapped Jose Fernandez Liranza to coach the national team beginning in 1996.

The Cubans "are willing to give us 40 years of research and development and that’s a great opportunity for us," said Buhain. "We are a nation of 80 million, certainly we have an abundance of talents. All we need is the technology to discover and harness them."

Buhain said he expected the exchange program to bear fruit two to three years from now, when the Philippines competes in the 2004 Olympics and the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Manila.

Esguerra horse wins again

Hermie Esguerra’s three-year-old filly Baby Lite, ridden by ace jockey Jonathan Hernandez, clocked 4 minutes and 43 seconds to capture the 1600-meter Philracom/PRCI Imported Horses Stakes Race and bag the R300,000 top prize at Santa Ana Park.

JM Franco’s imported sprinter Grannykan and Jun De Ubago’s Royal Lantana took second and third place, respectively.

This special racing event was held in honor of Alfonso Borja, the owner of the legendary horse Sir Alphonse. Philracom chairman Andrew Sanchez and PRCI EVP & COO Ramon P. Ereneta, Jr. assisted the honoree in awarding the trophies and plaques to Baby Lite’s winning connection.

The horseowner-trainer tandem of Hermie Esguerra and Jun Paman became the winningest connection after Magical Mark also won the 3rd and final leg of the Triple Crown series also at Santa Ana Park among several other major championship titles.