MANILA, 20 December 2002 — The country’s medal winners in the Busan 14th Asian Games, led by sportswoman of the year Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, will receive a windfall of incentives totaling 11.5 million pesos from the government in a ceremony set two days before Christmas at the Casino Filipino Parañaque Ampitheater.

The incentives are provided for under Republic Act 9064, or the Athletes and Coaches Incentives Act. Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Eric Buhain and Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chairman Ephraim Genuino will distribute the incentives on Dec. 23. Cojuangco-Jaworski, named top sportswoman of 2002 by the Philippine Sportswriters Association for her gold in equestrian’s showjumping, will receive the biggest incentive totaling 1.125 million pesos, 1 million pesos for her gold and 125,000 pesos for her share in the silver medal winning team with Toni Leviste, Danielle Schulze Cojuangco and Michelle Barrera.

Under the incentives act, a gold medal is worth 1 million pesos, a silver 500,000 pesos and a bronze 100,000 pesos.

Paeng Nepomuceno and RJ Bautista in bowling’s men’s doubles and Django Bustamante and Antonio Lining in billiards’ 9-ball doubles are also entitled to the 1 million pesos incentives for their gold medals. They would have to split the bonus though since they competed in doubles events. Thirty-three other Filipino athletes won the six other silvers and 16 bronzes in bowling, boxing, wushu, golf, billiards, shooting, rowing, karatedo and taekwondo in the Asiad.

Estimo, Torre clash over foreign coach

National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) secretary general Samuel Estimo is seeking a foreign coach to boost the Filipinos’ bid in regaining their once lofty status in Asia.

Estimo aired his appeal following the RP Chess Team’s debacle in the World Chess Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia.

Grandmasters Eugene Torre, Rogelio “Joey” Antonio and Bong Villamayor led the team. “Our Asian opponents are hiring Russian coaches and they keep improving. We tend to rely more on computer, but the benefit of having a foreign coach is that he could teach our players how to sustain a winning game,” said Estimo.

But there is one problem, Estimo said, as hiring a foreign coach does not sit well with Torre. “Before we left for Bled, Campo (Florencio Campomanes) already recommended one to Eugene. Unfortunately, Eugene was not amenable to the idea. But there are other factors daw that need to be considered,” explained Estimo, who once played for the RP chess squad in the early 1970s. The Philippine men’s chess team finished horribly in the recent World Chess Olympiad at 35th place, a huge drop from 17th in the Istanbul Chess Olympiad in 2000.

PSC plans ‘Olympics-style’ Batang Pinoy for next year

The Philippine Sports Commission, encouraged by the successful 4th Batang Pinoy-Philippine National Youth Games here, is determined to expand the program for children aged 12 and below.

PSC Chairman Eric Buhain said their plan is to hold as many as 34 events next year to make the Batang Pinoy some sort of a “mini-Olympics” for Filipino kids.

“We’re planning to hold a bigger Batang Pinoy next year by having 34 events like the Olympics,” he said. The just-concluded fourth edition, which was topped by Laguna Province, featured 21 events.

There are also plans to include the 13-17 age bracket but officials said it would all depend on the availability of funds for the additional age group. The last tournament cost the PSC 18 million pesos.

Villanueva earliest bird in draft

Enrico Villanueva, who led the Ateneo Blue Eagles to the championship over arch rival La Salle in the UAAP, was one of five early birds who filed their application for the Philippine Basketball Association draft last week.

The 6-foot-5 center Villanueva is expected to go no higher than No. 3 in next year’s pick granting that no Fil-foreign sleeper emeges in the draft. Villanueva had earlier spoken of his desire “to play in the PBA, which has been a dream of mine since I was a kid” and has been tagged as one of the best big men in the amateur ranks today.

Buenavista stamps class

Eduardo Buenavista, Southeast Asia’s best middle-distance runner, stretched his dominance to the full marathon yesterday as he set a course record in ruling the 26th edition of the Milo Marathon that ended at the Quirino Grandstand.

Buenavista, a double-gold medalist in the last Southeast Asian Games, won the country’s premier running event in emphatic fashion as he showed up the country’s top marathoners including defending champion and national teammate Allan Ballester.

The 24-year old native of South Cotabato made his first victory in the event that was worth 75,000 pesos for him doubly memorable as he tackled the 42-kilometer distance in two hours, 22 minutes and 52 seconds — a new course record.