The training of national athletes will be continuous and regular in the first quarter of the coming year.
Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez made this assurance now that a bubble-type of training has been allowed for national athletes preparing for international meets.
These training activities will start off with boxing, karatedo and taekwondo.
“Unahin lang natin ang training nila. Tapos, tuluy-tuloy na ito,” said Ramirez.
The agency is now making arrangements with businessman-sportsman Han Sy on the availability of the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.
The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila and the Philsports Complex in Pasig remain unavailable for such activities at this time as both are being used as quarantine facilities for COVID-19 positive patients.
The three national sports associations of boxing, taekwondo and karatedo will be the first ones to send athletes to the Laguna facility.
The duration of their training bubble is set for 90 days.
“If we succeed with the 10 guidelines and protocols (that we have set), we will expand this to other deserving and qualified athletes,” said Ramirez.
Numerous national athletes are getting ready for a busy year, with competitions set to be held in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the Southeast Asian Games and the Tokyo Olympics.
Last week, a bubble type of setup has been approved by the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Initially, 16 athletes from boxing will be sent to Calamba for training, along with five from taekwondo and eight from karatedo.
Ramirez said the owners have offered a 30 percent discount for billeting and food services.
The IATF’s nod came some nine months after the country went through a series of lockdowns to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.