Philippine team chef de mission Ramon Fernandez expressed confidence in the preparedness of Filipino athletes for the 31st Hanoi Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Vietnam next month despite the limitation in training brought by the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Fernandez, a commissioner at the Philippine Sports Commission, said Tuesday, April 5 that the athletes have done their best to be able to prepare themselves for the biennial meet set May 12 to 23.
“All our athletes are ready (for the SEA Games), they are in the thick of their preparation,” said Fernandez during the weekly online session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum.
“I think they’ve prepared well enough. There were lockdowns but they were able to train. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that they perform on the highest level, it’s not just us who were affected by the pandemic,” Fernandez said in Filipino.
Fernandez did not give any projection as to how many medals Team Philippines would take home, or the placing of the Filipinos in the standings after winning the overall championship when the country hosted the meet back in 2019.
However, after winning 149 gold medals, with 117 silver and 121 bronze medals, Fernandez said he is counting on athletes to duplicate their gold performances, and surpass those that won silver and bronze in the last SEA Games.
“I’m really relying on the podium finishers. Several, if not all – I hope all of them – can retain their gold,” said Fernandez, a basketball legend who captured four MVPs during his PBA days.
As for the preparation of the delegation, part of his CDM function is to make sure that all the needs of the athletes are all in place, including the departure for Vietnam, the billeting, and the return of athletes back home.
In total, there are 987 members of the Philippine team delegation to the SEA Games, 646 are athletes while 296 are coaches and officials.
There are also 45 non-delegation members from the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) that the PSC are providing assistance in terms of booking flights to Hanoi and billeting.
Fernandez also mentioned that of the 987 members of the delegation, only 918 are PSC-funded while the rest, or the 80, are either self-funded or financed by the local Olympic body.
“We’re preparing everything. More or less the booking (flight) of our athletes are all good,” he said.
Fernandez said that the majority of the delegation will take direct flights to Hanoi via Philippine Airlines, while about 140 members will take the Singapore route via the Singapore Airlines where they will have several hours of layover before going to Hanoi.
On the other hand, the Philippine team needs to abide by the health protocols set by the organizing committee.
“Our medical team, we just have to be careful, follow the protocols that are in place. There are policies depending on the number of daily cases,” said Fernandez, adding that crowds of 50 percent in venue capacity would be allowed if the COVID-19 cases are low, but fans would be barred from watching the games if the cases are high.
“All are athletes are vaccinated, and I believe they had booster shots.”
