POC, MVP pledge 500k reward for non-medalist Olympians

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Tokyo Olympic participants who weren’t able to score podium finishes will also get their incentives worth 500,000 pesos after the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Manny Pangilinan’s MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) agreed to a partnership.

POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan announced their collaboration to repay the sacrifices of each Filipino athlete that put in their time and effort for the most prestigious sporting event.

“Everyone on Team Philippines in these ‘Golden Olympics’ deserves all the praises, and in this case, incentives, they need. Qualifying for the Olympics is already that difficult, what more competing in the Games themselves,” said Tolentino.

Those athletes who weren’t able to secure medals and are set to receive the 500k incentive are swimmers Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule, skater Margielyn Didal, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, runner Kristina Knott, rower Cris Nievarez, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa, shooting’s Jayson Valdez, gymnastics’ Carlos Yulo, boxing’s Irish Magno, judo’s Kiyomi Watanabe, weightlifting’s Elreen Ando, and golf’s Juvic Pagunsan.

Meanwhile, boxers Eumir Marcial, Carlo Paalam, and Nesthy Petecio and weightlifting gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz seized over a million-pesos worth of incentives because of their podium finishes.