2013 Planned as Year of Philippine Sports
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 12 Mar 2013
MANILA (PNA) -- Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia has announced that a plan is in the works to declare 2013 as ?Year of Philippine Sports.?
?I have instructed our legal department to prepare the text for a proposed Presidential Proclamation declaring 2013 as Year of Philippine Sports in view of the celebration of the country?s admission to the international sporting community when the then Philippine Amateur Athletics Federation (PAAF) co-founded, hosted and participated in the First Far Eastern Olympic Games 100 years ago this year,? Garcia said during his weekly 'Meet the Press' held last Monday.
?Yes, Philippine sports, and Asia sports, for that matter, is celebrating their 100 years because the Far Eastern Games, which came into being in 1913, is acknowledged as the precursor of the now Asian Games,? Garcia told members of the POC-PSC Media Group.
?And in as much as the Olympic Council of Asia has awarded us the hosting of the Asian Games Centennial Festival scheduled in November, I believe that it is just proper to propose to the President that year 2013 be proclaimed 'Year of Philippine Sports,'? the PSC head explained.
Although sports in the country started in 1898 when the Americans arrived here following its Navy?s conquest of the Battle of Manila Bay, it was only in the Far Eastern Games where the Filipino athletes experienced competing against their peers in the Asian region.
The FEG started as a tripartite athletic competitions among the finest athletes from Japan, China and the Philippines although in the 30s, other countries such as India and Indonesia, then the Netherlands East Indies, sent contingents in several sports.
Its death after the 1934 Games, also held in Manila paved the way for the formation of the Asian Games Federation, now OCA.
The idea of declaring this year as Year of Philippine Sports stemmed from President Aquino?s proclaiming the month of August as 'Philippine Wushu Month' pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 554 and on the strength of the country?s hosting of the Asian Junior Wushu Championships on Aug. 8-12.
Garcia said the Asian Junior Wushu Championships automatically becomes part of the Centennial celebration as well as the FIBA-Asia championships that the Philippines is hosting for the first time in 40 years, as well as the Asian Football Federation Challenge Cup, the Southeast Asian Shooting Association championships, and the regional tournaments in rugby and sailing, among others.
Also included in the Centennial celebration are the on-going Asian Junior boxing championships in Subic Bay in Zambales and the coming Asian Triathlon conclave, also in Subic next month.
The proposed Presidential Proclamation, according to Garcia, who will be leaving for Europe this Sunday to strike sports exchange programs with Spain, Brazil, France and Argentina, will not only boost the development of sports but the tourism as well.
?Besides, the proclamation will surely be an additional incentive for the success of the many international events the Philippines will be hosting throughout the year,? Garcia said.
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