Thursday, October 22, 2009

RP's participation in international events

Now it's official. The Philippines has no representative to the World Junior Chess Championship 2009 in Argentina. No RP entry was paired in Round 1 of WJCC 2009.

The first to skip was GM Wesley So - for a good reason. He has to attend to his studies to be able to graduate in high school this year. Nothing beats a good education.

The supposed participation of RP's reigning junior national champions Paulo James Florendo (Boys) and Jedara Docena (Girls), who earned their WJCC slots for winning the national junior championship in Aklan early this year, didn't materialize.

At least, the reason for Wesley's non-paricipation in WJCC 2009 was clear and well announced.

With the case of Florendo and Docena, only heaven knows.

Of course, we would like to see at least a Filipino warrior battling for the Philippine flag in that world event.

What about the country's participation in the Asian Indoors which will take place in the first week of November in Vietnam? WFM Catherine PereƱa, WFM Shercila Cua, WIM Cristine Mariano, WIM Beverly Mendoza, GM Mark Paragua, GM Rogelio Antonio, Jr., IM Rolando Nolte, GM Jayson Gonzales burned their skin in the qualifying stage to get there.

Remember that the NCFP had already spent a lot in staging regional eliminations for the Asian Indoors event. Let's all hope that all the preparations won't go for naught, too.

The signs are bad. Remember that none of our female Asian Indoor qualifiers joined the 4th PGMA Cup and the 5th Pichay Cup, which could have been their good training regimen for the Asian Indoors. At least, the NCFP had required them to participate with it shouldering all the expenses.

And how about the country's participation in World Youth Chess Championships (WYCC) in Turkey also in November?

Is money really the problem?

Not sending any representative to the World Junior Chess Championship? My heart goes for Florendo and Docena for ending up on an empty cloud.

Not sending the RP delegation to the Asian Indoors? I think the NCFP/PSC can, and in fact, should make ways to be able to wave the Philippine flag in that international event.

Not sending the RP delegation to the World Youth meet? Oh no, please. Let's say we can forego WJCC and the Asian Indoors, although still unacceptable, but not the World Youth.

Let's say the NCFP is really short on budget and is making a difficult decision on which one event to support. Choosing among the three events, the NCFP may forego WJCC and the Asian Indoors (I repeat, this is unacceptable) but not the World Youth.

Banking on the youth is still the best option. And somebody may commend the NCFP if indeed this scenario is what to take place.

2 Comments:

Tony said...

Banktupt na ata Pinas pards after the calamities, kaya puro utang o limos. OFW remittanced just continue to keep us afloat!

Tapos may pulitika pa PSC vs POC, though si Angping admin yan so ala problema Pichay. Ala na lang siguro mahigop sa govt coffers anymore...

Kaya super higpit pa lalo BIR, dun naman sa small and mediumscale pinapa-focus ni arroyu

Anonymous said...

It's official: according to GM Joey Antonio, my friend and confidant, only him and GM Mark Paragua will go to Vietnam for the Asian Indoor Games. Plus the 2 other lady players WFM Catherine Perena and WFM Shercila Cua. According to GM Joey, his heart bleeds for the other players GM Jayson Gonzales and IM Rolando Nolte who sacrificed a lot then last minute and WIM Cristine Mariano and WIM Beverly Mendoza. The delegation will be spearheaded by NCFP Director Willy Abalos who is said to be invited as arbiter(?!). Possibly the lack of budget became the main reason of players being scratched? What has become of the national eliminations (no prize money!!) that players have to endure last September? What is really happening to Philippine Chess?? I hope this coming World Youth Championships in Turkey will go smooth, kawawa naman kung ang mga young and aspiring players natin ay hindi matutuloy...this is a clear case similar to the World Juniors in Argentina??