‘Di puro basketball: Football at baseball dapat palakasin – Angara

MANILA – Dapat umanong maging panggising sa pamahalaan ang pambirang panalo ng football team ng Pilipinas na binansagang “Azkals" nang talunin nito ang defending champion na Vietnam sa 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup sa Hanoi, Vietnam nitong Linggo. Ayon kay Aurora Rep Juan Edgardo “Sonny" Angara, panahon na para bigyan ng lubos na suporta ng pamahalaan at maging ng pribadong sektor ang pagsasanay ng mga Pinoy na naglalaro ng football at maging baseball kung saan malaki ang tiyansa ng bansa na manalo sa mga kompetisyon. Pinuna ng kongresista na hanggang ngayon ay nakatuon ang atensiyon ng gobyerno at pribadong sektor sa pagtaguyod sa mga manlalaro ng bansa sa basketball kung saan palaging nabibigo dahil sa mga mas matataas na kalaban. “We should be into sports that gives emphasis on agility, strength, mental skills and strategy but somehow, many Filipinos are too much into basketball," ani Angara, chairman ng House committee on higher and technical education, isang pahayag nitong Martes. “There's nothing wrong with basketball but as far as the government's sports development policy is concerned, we should refocus our resources and energy on other sports like football and baseball, " idinagdag ng kongresista. Nitong Linggo, ginulat at pinatahimik ng mga Pinoy ang tinatayang 40,000 Vietnamese fans na nanonood sa My Dinh National Stadium sa Hanoi, Vietnam nang paluhurin nila sa iskor na 2-0 ang defending champion na Vietnam. Ang AFF Suzuki Cup ang katumbas ng Asian Football Cup sa Southeast Asian region kaya malaking tagumpay ang nakamit ng mga manlalarong Pinoy, na itinuturing pinakamalaking upset sa kasaysayan ng torneo. Pinuri ni Angara ang koponan dahil sa matinding pagsasanay na ginawa kahit hindi ito lubos na nabibigyan ng pansin ng mga Pilipino na mas nahilig sa basketball at boxing. “In view of the football team's success, I'm calling on President Aquino, our various sports agencies, sports philanthropists, our schools and even parents to promote football and baseball as alternatives to basketball. These two sports can easily be pursued by probinsiyano students even in far flung barangays," ayon sa kongresista. “Here we can succeed as shown by the Philippines team beating Vietnam, and we also won the Homeless World Cup . In baseball we also have had past successes including the poor children of Smokey Mountain. Thanks to the efforts of civic organizations like the Jaycees and Gawad Kalinga, we now have a good little league baseball team," idinagdag niya. – GMANews.TV.