THE 25 athletes that the Philippine Sports Commission will support until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are mostly gold medallists from the recent 2017 Southeast Asian Games.
PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said it’s not up to the PSC to choose the national athletes whom it will support until the next Olympics.
Instead, it will be the national sports association which help them in the process of identifying the athletes, who deserve such support from the PSC.
“We are not selecting these athletes. But we’re basing it from the results of the SEA Games. We have been monitoring these athletes,” said Ramirez.
Among the gold medallists that the PSC is committing to support are marathon queen Mary Joy Tabal, triathlon champions Nikko Huelgas, gymnast Carlo Yulo and Kiyomi Watanabe.
The three are among the athletes who got their cash incentives from President Duterte for their winning campaign the SEA Games.
A total of 24 gold, 33 silver, and 64 bronze medals were collected during the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ramirez discussed their support to the medallists of the games after cash incentives amounting to P18,037,500 were awarded to them on Wednesday at the Malacanang Palace.
All the medalists were given presidential citations by President Duterte.