SUMMARY
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House Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero announced on Tuesday, July 20, that he will add to the value of a Tokyo 2020 Olympics gold, chipping in to the bonus that is now at P33 million.
Romero committed an additional P3 million for a gold, P2 million for a silver, and P1 million for a bronze in the quadrennial meet.
“Ang aking good news na out of my company’s expenses, itataya ko na [ang incentives] to give additional motivation,” said Romero in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association forum.
(The good news is that out of my company’s expenses, I will place my commitment on the incentives to give additional motivation.)
The incentive is on top of the bonus system of the Philippine Sports Commission Act (RA 10699) and the commitments of tycoons Ramon Ang and Manny Pangilinan earlier in July.
An Olympic silver is now valued at P17 million, while a bronze is at P7 million.
Like many other sports officials and analysts, Romero believes that this is the “strongest” Philippine Olympic team that will be sent in history.
The 1-Pacman party list representative is placing his bet on golfer Yuka Saso, 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, and gymnast Carlos Yulo for the country’s maiden gold medal in the biggest stage of sports.
“All are bemedaled and are champions worldwide. Pag tinignan mo ‘yung track record and background neto, pinagsama-sama lahat ng magagaling na atleta,” shared Romero, who is currently a national polo player as well.
(All our bemedaled, they’re champions worldwide. If you look at their track records and backgrounds, we have all our great athletes together.)
“Our best bet is Yuka or Hidilyn, being the silver medalist last Olympics. We have Carlos Yulo, one of the most bemedaled [athletes] of the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with seven medals – two gold and five silver.”
Romero, the former president of the Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) is also pinning his hopes on Jayson Valdez, who may pull off a surprise in the Tokyo Games’ men’s 10m air rifle event.
“In his many competitions, Jayson has participated in a lot of World Cup events. I have high hopes for Jayson,” added Romero in a mix of English and Filipino.
“He’s young, from a family of shooters, his dad Julius is a former national team shooter and a three-time SEA Games gold medalist.”
The Philippines will send 19 athletes to the Tokyo Games that will be staged from July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo, Japan. – Rappler.com
To discover the stories of our Filipino Olympic hopefuls, subscribe to Rappler Sports podcast Targeting Tokyo on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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