Philippines to send 362 to Doha Asian Games

Philippine Asian Games Task Force has submitted the final list of athletes and officials going to the 15th Asian Games held on Dec. 1 to 15 in Doha, Qatar, local media reported on Tuesday.

Of the total of 362 delegates leaving for the quadrennial meet, 240 of them are athletes, according to a report by The Manila Bulletin.

"More or less we have 240 athletes going to Doha," said Ritchie Garcia, Philippine Sports Commissioner.

Garcia said that two team sports, water polo and softball, decided to pull out their participation for failing to raise enough funds.

The Philippine Sports Commissioner earlier said that the government agency will stick to its 30 million pesos (600,000 U.S. dollars) budget for the country's participation in the Asian Games and will just have to rely on sponsors to augment funding.

Some sponsors, however, backed out for more important responsibilities such as extending help for people affected by typhoon "Xangsane".

Garcia is optimistic of the country's chances, noting that some national teams such as karatedo, judo, boxing and wushu had already been training abroad to bolster their respective bids.

Source: Xinhua