KUNG pagbabasehan ang kalidad ng mga atleta sa kasalukuyan, masuwerte na ang Team Philippines na makatalon sa ikalimang puwesto sa 2017 Southeast Asian Games sa Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ito ang makatotohanang pagtatantiyani Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez batay na rin sa iprinisintang criteria sa pagpili ng atleta ng SEAG Task Force na pinamumunuan ni Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) representative Tom Carrasco.

“We are really dead serious on our criteria,” pahayag ni Ramirez.

“We might be arrogant but we will be following the criteria for us to be as competitive as what we wanted to be.

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Right now, we will be pressed hard but the reality is that we could only reach as high as 5th place,” aniya.

Kinatigan ito ni Carrasco ng triathlon.

“It is always hard to beat host Malaysia,” aniya.

“The next challenge is Thailand and Vietnam. Then there is still Indonesia and Singapore.

Sa ginanap na pagpupulong, may timbang sa atleta na nakaginto sa nakalipas na SEA Games sa Singapore.

Ikalawa sa criteria ay ang tagumpay sa internasyonal kompetisyon tulad sa nakalipas na Rio Olympics, World Level, 2014 Asian Games, Asian Level, Regional Level at Asian Beach Games.

“All Rio Summer Games qualifiers are already seeded to the SEA Games,” pahayag ni Carrasco.

Nabatay rin ang pagpili sa pagiging (a) young and high potential athlete with define track record, (b) measurable qualifying level, (c) team events for review on case to case basis.

“We will talk to NSA for justification kung yung atleta nila deserving ipadala. Hindi na puwede na exposure at lalaban ka lamang just because to fulfill your commitment sa international federation,” aniya.

“Hindi na ito paramihan ng atleta kundi medalya.” (Angie Oredo)