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POC to meet after Christmas to kickstart 2021 SEA Games plans

Some of the medalists in the recently concluded SEA Games take a photo together with POC board member Cynthia Carrion in a press conference on Tuesday at Conrad Manila. Ivan Saldajeno
By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY--Right after the Philippine team's successful campaign in the Southeast Asian Games, the POC will quickly begin its buildup for the next edition in 2021 in Hanoi.

"We're going to have a board meeting right after Christmas to discuss the issue," Board Member Cynthia Carrion said on Tuesday at the Conrad Manila Ballroom here, pertaining to how the heavy medal haul can be sustained.

In what was billed as the biggest SEA Games yet, the Philippine team won a whopping 149 gold medals and 387 medals in total, both record breaking medal hauls, en route to its second overall championship in the said meet.

[Related Story: SEA Games ends with PH clinching overall crown after 149-gold haul]

The POC held a thanksgiving and Christmas party to the athletes at the said hotel as part of congratulating them for the success and giving honor to the country.

Now, the main focus is to sustain the hot streak of the Philippines with the Hanoi staging coming up.

"We want to continue this momentum that we're having because Vietnam is only in two years," Carrion further said.

In fact, she already set a goal for the Philippine side for the 2021 SEA Games: "We can be number two or number three, not lower than number three," implying that the POC will look to correct errors that saw the Nationals fall from overall champs in 2005, the last time they hosted the meet prior to this year, to sixth in the final rankings two years later in Thailand.

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