PSC forges partnership with Iran
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 10 Jun 2014
The bilateral cooperation in sports between the Philippines and Iran aimed at strengthening and improve the friendship between the two countries has further been cemented with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Philippine Sports Commission and the Iranian Ministry of Sports and Youth.
Affixing his signature to the MoU for the Philippines was PSC Chair Ritchie Garcia and, for Iran, Minister of Sports and Youth Mahmoud Goodarzi. The momentous event was held last Saturday at the Iranian Ministry of Sports and Youth headquarters in Tehran.
The MoU, according to Garcia, who was accompanied to Tehran by PSC executive director, lawyer Guillermo Iroy, actually made official the understanding arrived at by the PSC and the Iranian Sports Ministry a years ago shortly before the 2013 Southeast Asian Games with the Philippines gaining initial benefits when Filipino athletes in wrestling and weightlifting trained in Tehran in preparation for the 27th edition of the biennial meet.
?Yeah, the MoU actually unofficially took effect a year ago yet,? Garcia said during last Thursday?s SCOOP Sa Kamayan On Air program aired weekly over A.M. station DZAR and viewed live at sonshinetvradyo.com.
The MoU, the PSC chief added during the forum, sponsored by Firstfood, Inc, Asian Coatings and PSC, will officially come into effect though for four years from the date the document was signed and valid for four years and automatically extended also for the same period of time unless one of the parties notifies the other in a formal letter.
Along the salient points of the agreement are the exchange of athletes, coaches, trainors and officials in the course of the two countries preparations for any given international competitions, particularly the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and regional and continental championships as well as the facilitation in the implementation of the programs.
The MoU, likewise, encourages the athletes and officials of both countries to participate in camps, festivals, events and friendly visits. Women athletes and officials participating in the programs will be subjected though to the observance of the Islamic Codes in the Republic of Iran.
Iran, for instance, will initiate he promotion and development of its indigenous sport Zurkaneh in the Philippines. The Philippines, in return, will led its hands in the propagation and promotion of local-based sports arnis, sipa and the likes.
For a start, Garcia said, Filipino athletes in weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, taekwondo and other martial arts events where their Iranian counterparts are world-class will be going to Tehran shortly to prepare for the coming Asian Games this August and the SEA Games next year.
Minister Goodarzi, on the other hand, is asking for the presence of Filipino bowling great Paeng Nepomuceno and billiards whiz Efren ?Bata? Reyes in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between Iran and the Philippines later this year.
?Paeng is quiet popular in Iran because it was in that country where he won the first of his four Bowling World Cup championships, the most by any pintoppler, hosted by that oil-rich Middle East country in 1974.
?I will be talking to the Philippine Bowling Congress officials and their counterparts in the Billiards and Snooker Federation so we can immediately send Paeng and Bata to attend the golden anniversary of our diplomatic ties with Iran,? Garcia told SCOOP president Eddie Alinea and SCOOP Sa Kamayan ON Air co-host Vic Endriga.
?What also came as very significant development of the signing ceremony is that Minister Goodarzi assured us of the full implementation of the nine-point agenda in the program,? Garcia said. ?Meaning, Iran?s Minister of Sports and Youth is really determined to extend its helping hands to us and, at the same time, cement further our good relations.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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