Baseball federation president Chito Loyzaga has been named as the country’s chief of mission to the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia next year.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino announced this Monday, Sept. 19, adding that it has also appointed sambo association head Paolo Tancontian and canoe-kayak international technical official Len Escollante as Loyzaga’s deputies.
“Their handling of their respective NSAs and their management skills make them deserving of the posts,” said Tolentino.
Loyzaga and his deputies will officially exercise their functions after the POC General Assembly on Sept. 28.
Cambodia is hosting 608 events for the May 5 to 16, 2023 meet where Filipino athletes are expected to compete in all 49 sports.
“I want to express my appreciation to POC President Bambol for his trust and confidence in me to be the head of the Philippine delegation for Cambodia SEA Games,” said Loyzaga, who was also a former commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and deputy chief of mission in the 2010 Asian Beach Games in Muscat, Oman.
“It’s a big challenge for the Philippines to perform well, as well as the other countries, because of the number of sports favoring the host country. It will be very challenging.”
The country is coming off a fourth-place finish at the 31st edition that Hanoi, Vietnam hosted last May where the Filipinos won 52 gold, 70 silver and 104 bronze medals.