The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Task Force for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) began meeting with various sports association officials to discuss the formation of the Philippine delegation.
The Task Force, headed by AIMAG chief of mission Monsour Del Rosario and assistant chief Raymund Reyes, have laid down the criteria for selection of athletes.
The criteria include consideration of the results of recent games participated in by the candidate players, analysis of possible competitors, their training program and objectives or medal goals.
The Philippines will compete against at least 40 countries 21 sports disciplines in the 5th AIMAG slated in September in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
The sports event on tap are chess, bowling, dancesport, muay thai, taekwondo, tennis, weightlifting, 3-on-3 basketball, cycling (track), equestrian (jumping), wrestling, billiards, kickboxing, jiujitsu, kuresh, athletics (indoor), football (futsal), aquatics (short course swimming), belt wrestling, sambo and traditional wrestling.
Del Rosario, secretary-general of the Philippine Taekwondon Association, is also working closely with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) headed by chairman Butch Ramirez.
“We want a more successful participation and we are thankful that the PSC is fully supportive of our delegation. We will make our country proud,” said the former taekwondo Olympian and Asian champion.
The coordination meeting with the various heads of the National Sports Associations (NSAs) was divided into three days with first two to being held at the at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila and the third at the University of Life-PSC Compound in Pasig City.
Among the active participants in the three-day meeting were combat sports like Pearl Managuelod, secretary-general of the Muay Association of the Philippines (MAP), headed by his father Gen. Lucas Managuelod.
MAP, being a member of the Olympic Council of Asia, will also administer the forming of the kickboxing team in coordination with the newly-formed Kickboxing Alliance of the Philippines.