Training under a bubble type of setup will have to continue for national athletes next week.
Commissioner Ramon Fernandez said this after the government raised the COVID-19 status in the National Capital Region to Alert Level 3 starting Monday.
“It’s going to be a bubble type of training setup. That was original plan,” said Fernandez, the chef de mission of the Philippine contingent to the Southeast Asian Games.
Under the guidelines of the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the agency will not allow the staging of “contact sports, except those conducted under a bubble-type setup, as provided for under relevant guidelines adopted by the IATF, Games and Amusement Board, and Philippine Sports Commission, and approved by the LGUs (local government units).”
Last November, the agency opened its doors for the training of combat sports athletes from different national sports associations.
And this will be possible in two of three sports facilities that are under the control of the PSC by January.
Training be allowed once the PSC finishes clearing numerous areas inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in the City of Manila City and the Philsports Complex in Pasig City.
Among the combat sports events that were supposed have physical training sessions are karatedo, judo, sambo, taekwondo, boxing, kickboxing and muay.
Fernandez said the agency is taking a cautious stand in many places inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and the Philsports Complex when they open it by Jan. 10. That’s because the government is still utilizing certain areas as isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients.
As for the national training camp in Baguio, only two groups of national athletes can be accommodated.
The athletes are training for the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games in May and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.