Six associate members of the Philippine Olympic Committee have now become regular members.
POC president and Tagaytay Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino announced this following yesterday’s general assembly of the POC at the Conrad Hotel in Pasay City.
The national sports associations whose memberships have been elevated from associate to regular are modern pentathlon, surfing, bridge, kurash, jiujitsu and sambo.
“We have approved them as regular members, with bridge after having applied for a long period of time, and with modern pentathlon as an Olympic sports, and kurash as an Asian level sport,” said Tolentino.
Accepting the six NSAs as new members will leave the POC with a total of 48 regular members
The acceptance of the six NSAs comes a week following the conclusion of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
So far, modern pentathlon athletes from the Philippines delivered two golds, a silver and two bronze medals.
Kurash, which saw Vietnam dominating, got a gold, two silvers and five bronzes from Filipino athletes.
As for surfing, the Philippines got away with two golds, two silvers and three bronzes.
The Games yielded 149 gold medals, 117 silver and 121 bronze for the host country, which gave the Philippines the overall championship.
The POC is giving P200,000 to gold medallists in the SEA Games, the first time ever that the Olympic body is handing out incentives to winning athletes.
Silver medalists will get P50,000, while bronze achievers will receive P30,000 from the POC.
The POC has prepared P52.87 million in incentives to athletes who won medals during the Games.
The funds that the POC got comes from the support of businessman San Miguel Corp., Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, the Philippine Basketball Association and Dennis Uy of Udenna/Phoenix.
“Ito po ay nangyari sapagkat ang POC ngayon ay nakakakalap ng mga donasyon galing sa pribadong sektor. Atin pong pinasasalamatan ng taos-puso ang ating mga private sponsors na mula noong panahon ni Pres Vargas at magpa hanggang ngayon ay nagtitiwala sa liderato ng Philippine Olympic Commitee. Nariyan po ang San Miguel Corporation, MVP Sports Foundation, Philippine Basketball Association,” said Tolentino.
