“IBA KUNG MAG-HOST NG SEAG ANG ‘PINAS” PANAWAGAN NG PHISGOC AT PSC SA RALLY

TUTUKAN na muna ang kapakanan ng mga atletang sasabak sa 30th Southeast Asian Games sa Nobyembre. Iyan ang pana­wagan ni Philippine Southeast Asian Games organising committee chair Alan Peter Cayetano, Martes ng gabi para sa Team Philippines sa Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Sa harap ng may 1,300 national athletes at coaches sa isang pep rally at concert na pinangunahan ng Go­PilipinasGo movement, ma­higpit na tagubilin ni Caye­tano na “We will try to work harder. We will try to get along better, we will try to get more funds.’

Pagkakaisa naman ang ipinakita ng sports officials nang makasama si Cayetano nina Philippine Sports Commission Butch Ramirez, chief of mission Monsour del Rosario, Philippine O­lym­pic Committee board member Jonne at Philspada head Mike Barredo.

Pinaalalahanan din ni Cayetano ang mga atleta na manatiling pokus at mag­konsentra sa kanilang training kasunod ng pagpapali­pad ng mga puting kalapati bilang simbolo ng pagtupad ng tungkulin na magbibigay karangalan sa bansa at pagkakaisa. “It’s a humbling experience for myself, for chairman Butch, and for everyone here on stage because you the athletes continue to teach us a lot,’’ aniya. ``It’s easy to say win as one, but there’s a lot of hard work that we should put into winning as one,’’ dagdag ng dating Senador at secretary ng Department of Foreign Affairs.

Sumuporta rin ang ilang Pinoy legends sa okasyon na sina bowling Hall of Fa­mer Bong Coo, Olympic bron­ze medalist taekwondo Stephen Fernandez, SEA Games at Asian Games wushu champ Willy Wang. “We have two objectives. One is we need to win the overall title and secondly, we want the 10 other countries to say na iba talaga mag-host ang Pinoy,” ani Caye­tano.

Nakiisa rin sina Olympic weight­lifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, SEAG back-to-back triathlon gold winner Nikko Huel­gas at World gymnastics bronze medalist Caloy Yulo sa rally ng fellow athletes sa pama­ma­­gitan ng videos habang nasa training abroad. (MC)