Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino (File photo)
MANILA – Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino is hoping that all the national sports associations (NSAs) will once again be one amid all the recent happenings especially the drama surrounding the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc).
"My first move is to reach out to the NSAs and unite sports and forget the politics. If we can’t unite now, the momentum of our SEA Games success will be wasted," the POC chief said during the online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.
The Philippine team hosted last year’s Southeast Asia Games and won the overall championship.
Tolentino hopes that the momentum will continue next year once the Tokyo Olympics and Hanoi SEA Games start.
"The momentum is still there and there is Tokyo. We should focus on that," he said.
The allegations of Tolentino, Tom Carrasco, Cynthia Carrion-Norton, and Dave Carter receiving compensations from Phisgoc after the SEA Games led to the group of Clint Aranas filing an appeal to disqualify them from the POC election.
However, the POC Election Committee on Sunday denied the disqualification plea and cleared Tolentino and his allies to run.
"Tapos na ang 'first half' (The first half is over)," Tolentino uttered a sigh of relief as he likened his reelection bid into an "old school college basketball game," in which the match is just divided to two periods.
The "second half", that is, the election itself, is set for Friday (November 27) at the East Ocean Palace Restaurant in Paranaque City. (PNA)
