President Gloria M. Arroyo made the proposal to increase the PSC’s budget from P117 million to P260 million next year and with the great atmosphere in the Senate there are high hopes that the proposed budget increase will be passed without problems. Also joining the bandwagon to win medals for the country in the said Olympics were Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Pia Cayetano, Chiz Escudero, Ed Angara, and Manny Villar. Honasan a former sportsman himself promised to be the “new voice" of Philippine Sports in the Senate. Ramirez has the president’s mandate to bring the country to the threshold of Olympic power.

With these developments sports pundits are convinced that the juggernaut to bag our first gold has began to hit its stride. A report from Davao City sportswriter CR Maxey says that Philippine Sports Commission Chair William “Butch” Ramirez is now confident the country can win an Olympic gold and that this may come in the 2008 Beijing Games. (Ramirez is from Davao. ) But he said Team Philippines may not have the luxury of time in as far as preparation for the world’s biggest sporting show is concerned.

The country won four gold medals in the recent Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, which was one gold short of Ramirez’s prediction of a 5-gold haul. The performance, however, of the Filipino athletes received commendations from sports officials, led by President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo.

Ramirez was given marching orders by GMA to get the country’s first gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ramirez has identified 12 different sports that will be placed under a special program aimed at giving the country its first Olympic gold.

ttp://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/forumdisplay.phpThe 12 sports whose athletes will undergo special training for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing are athletics, swimming, diving, boxing, taekwondo, archery, fencing, lawn tennis, weightlifting, gymnastics, shooting and wushu. “These are the sports where we have chances of winning our first Olympic gold. And for the next year heading to the Beijing Olympics, we will focus on these sports."

“We have already prepared the strategy. And behind these effort will be First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, the private sector, the PSC, the POC and the different NSAs,” Ramirez added. Other POC officials who will play key roles in this program are weightlifting’s Monico Puentevella and bowling’s Steve Hontiveros. Ramirez said the First Gentleman is heavily committed to this cause. Garcia and Hontiveros will go to the US to coordinate with their counterparts.

*Maryland Tennisters Happy.  Meanwhile members of the FATAM (Filipino American Tennis Association of Maryland) led by its spokesperson Danny Francia hailed the efforts of FilAm tennis player Cecil Mamiit to spearhead the Philippine Tennis efforts to win medals in the Beijing Olympics Mamiit often visited Montgomery County in Maryland to campaign in the Legg Mason Tennis Tournament during the summer. He is well liked by the youth and will serve to inspire them to do great things. The team will compete in Davis Cup play against Kuwait .

RP tennis team manager Jean Henri Lhuillier is confident of the national team’s chances for a return stint to Group I as well as a successful campaign in the Southeast Asian Games this December in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. “I believe we have a very good chance of achieving these goals," said Lhuillier in a recent press briefing in Makati City “Mga kabayan suportahan po natin sila.”

*Mabuhay ang Pinoy. * Paeng Nepomuceno once again lifted the hearts and image of the Filipino athlete in particular and the Filipino people in general when he became a double winner in the tournament where no other non Australian player has ever won a medal, Paeng not only won the title, the South Pacific Classic, but did it twice. And 23 years apart. Super athlete Nepomuceno, who has just recently been named USBC ambassador for Bowling, is a four time World Cup Bowling champion. Mabuhay ang Filipino.

*Fil Am Tennisters in National Tourney. * Several members of the Fil American Tennis Association of Northern Virginia which draws membership from DC Virginia and Maryland are set to leave for Las Vegas Nevada, to compete in the National 3.5 USTA Adult Tennis Championships. The group playing under the name of Courtmasters will join seventeen other regional champions from California, Hawaii, Pacific Northwest, Midwest, Missouri ,Florida and New England. The tournament is set for October 5 to 7, 2007. Ed Tiong and Jose Macaranas are the powers behind the organization. Good Luck guys!

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