"The accommodations of our athletes, coaches and other staffof the Philippine team are comfortable. We have been treated well. There havebeen no major complaints,” Fernandez told Philippine News Agency reporters.
He said that the problem he has heard so far was thetransport from the hotels of the participants to the training and competition venues, whichwas understandable since Vietnam, like the rest of the region, was still coping with theCOVID-19 pandemic.
“The organisers have been apologetic about this issue andhave addressed our concerns as soon as they can whenever the transport problemscrop up,” Fernandez, also a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission,noted.
Overall, he said, the national team is satisfied by thetreatment of the Vietnamese hosts and give them the thumbs-up.
Fernandez revealed that national team morale remains highafter visiting most of the country’s campaigners in the Vietnamese capital and surrounding areas,a testament to their resiliency despite the many challenges they faced in gearing for theregional sports showcase.
He cited the example of track-and-field athlete ClintonKingsley Bautista, who bucked a serious shin injury barely a month before the regional meet torecover in time in retaining the men’s 400-meter hurdles title with arecord-breaking run at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi earlier thisweek./.
VNA