Olympic Festival in Subic

Subic - The search for the country’s future Olympians continues when the third Philippine Olympic Festival kicks off with the Central Northern Luzon qualifying games today inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Some 1,300 athletes from 12 local government units will participate with hosts Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Olongapo City bringing in the biggest contingent of 3121 athletes set to compete in 20 sports.

Philippine Olympic Committee and POF chairman Robert Aventajado will spearhead the opening ceremony at 4 p.m. with the traditional Olympic torch relay and parade of teams touching off the week- long festivities.

POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuanco Jr. and International Olympic Committee representative RP Frank Elizalde will also grace the affair established as the talent identification program of the Olympic body.

SBMA chair Feliciano Salonga will light the Olympic festival cauldron, signaling the start of the games supported by Pagcor, Globe, ACCEL, AMA Computer University, Negros Navigation, The Philippine Star, Summit Mineral Water and Creativity Lounge.

Also expected to attend the event jointly hosted by Olongapo city and SBMA are Olongapo City Mayor James Gordon and SBMA administrator Armand Arreza.

“This is a collective effort of the national sports associations, the POC and the local government units for the country to discover new talents for the 2012 Olympics,” said Aventajado.

The CNL qualifying games is the first of five qualifying legs throughout the country. Medalist in the qualifying games will compete in the national finals to be held at the end of the year.

Set to defend the overall crown it captured in the CNL games held in Vigan, Ilocos Sur last year, Baguio City has also sent a massive contingent of 297 athletes.

At least a dozen promising athletes were discovered during the second edition of the POF with muay’s Jay Olod of Baguio City and swimmer Jessie Khing Lacuna of Bulacan getting invitations from the national team after the CNL games.

Potential national athletes from atheletics swimming and contact sports muay and arnis also caught the attention of the organizers during the succeeding legs of the POF up to the national championship last year.

“The POF is offering a clear pathways to the Olympics with the 2012 London Games as initial target,” said Aventajado.

Aventajado said the POF has added three more disciplines- volleyball, badminton and softball – in the CNL games apart from the previous editions.