Possible 3rd SEA Games athletics gold awaits PHL

A possible third gold awaits the Philippine track and field team after one member of Malaysia's 4x400-meter relay team in the 2011 Indonesia Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) failed the required drug test.

The Malaysian quartet faces the possibility of being stripped of its title if a second test (B samples) still tested positive for banned substances. The report came out in Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times on Friday.

Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) president Go Teng Kok welcomed the news and reiterated that the Filipino quartet composed of Jun Rey Bano, Edgardo Alejan, Julius Nierras and Archard Christian Bagsit deserved to win the gold.

Once Malaysia is stripped of its title, the gold will be awarded to the Philippines that could bring its total medal haul in track and field to 3-8-4 (gold-silver-bronze)....

SEAG medalists receive cash incentives; Ranola, Ong top highest-paid list

For bowler Frederick Ong, he will save the money he received as incentive for winning a gold medal in the 2011 Southeast Asian Games. Double-gold winner Iris Ranola of billiards, meanwhile, will use part of the funds for her ailing father.

Whatever the purpose will be, all athletes who excelled in the SEA Games in Indonesia will definitely have a merry Christmas after receiving their respective cash rewards Wednesday.

The Philippine Sports Commission held a ceremony which also served as a Christmas party for the athletes at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall to honor the 36 gold, 56 silver and 77 bronze medalist together with their coaches who performed in the biennial joust....

Phl to bat for fewer SEA Games events

MANILA, Philippines - Whatever comes out of it, the Philippines will push for a fixed calendar of events, meaning fewer events, for the Southeast Asian Games starting in 2013 in Myanmar.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia is in Indonesia with a meeting with the Asean sports ministers, and will take the opportunity to bat for the proposal.

Garcia said “it’s about time” for the members of the SEA Games Federation to agree and limit the number of disciplines as well as the number of events to a certain level....

Watch out for Myanmar

Make no mistake about it, Myanmar is out to impress the world, or at least Southeast Asia, when it stages the 27th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in 2013. The SEA Games are scheduled to kick off on Dec. 11, 2013 or, as May Chen of The Straits Times of Singapore put it, on 11.12.13. And when Myanmar vows to impress this part of the world, it means that it will, in what appears to be its coming out party after years of isolation, showcase its organizational savvy, and of course, its athletic prowess.

The signs of Myanmar’s brutally repressive regime coming out and being an enlightened member of the international community are slowly emerging: from granting a bit more freedom to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to welcoming the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (who, as a world leader herself has met up with some of the most powerful figures in the world, was unusually excited in meeting Suu Kyi) to its assumption of more leadership responsibility in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN.

The 27th SEA Games will be the first time Myanmar will be host since 1969 when the country was still known as Burma and the Games were still known as the Southeast Asian Peninsular Games or SEAP Games. The Philippines, Indonesia and several other countries were not yet part of the regional festival of sports then. Myanmar (Burma) finished at the top of the medal standings in 1969 but has since retrogressed because of, among other things, its isolationist policy and autocratic methods....

Fund lack blamed for debacle

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco yesterday said while the Filipino athletes gave their best in the recently concluded 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia, the bigger issue to be addressed concerns the annual funds which Congress sets aside for sports.

Cojuangco admitted finishing sixth overall for the second time since 2007 is no reason to cheer, and he passed the buck on those in government who have a say in the budget being given to the Philippine Sports Commission.

“How much do we really want?” said Cojuangco who rued the continued decline in the budget from Congress over the recent years, amid higher expectations for the national athletes to deliver in international competitions....

More SEA Games News...

SEAG medalists to get cash rewards

MVP Sports dissatisfied with Team Philippines SEAG performance

SEA Games Gold Medalists

SEAG a big success – Indons

Chris Tiu blasts ‘absurd’ state of sports

MVP’s P10M produces dozen wins in SEA Games

2011 SEAG worst in a decade for Team PH

Malaysia beat hosts to win football gold

Baguio warriors give wushu golden finish

Nine golds cap Phl's SEAG campaign

View all