PH CURLING TEAM SET TO RECEIVE CASH INCENTIVES FOR WINNING GOLD IN ASIAN WINTER GAMES

MANILA, Philippines — The historic and gold-winning Philippine men's curling team members at the Asian Winter Games stand to receive a P500,000 incentive each from the government.

Under the Republic Act 10699, also known as the 'National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act', the Filipino curlers will receive the aforementioned amount for claiming the gold medal in their event in Harbin, China.

The law stated that for a national team with five or more participants, each member shall receive twenty-five percent (25%) of the cash incentives for individual medal winners which is P2 million and thus P500K each.

Led by coach Jessica Pfister, Alan Frei, Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller, Marc Pfister, and Benjo Delarmente defeated South Korea in the final, 5-3, to take the gold medal.

It was the Philippines' first podium finish in the quadrennial event albeit a medal was secured after the Filipinos beat host China, 7-6, in the semifinals.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Richard Bachmann said that the PH curling team's breakthrough gold is just the beginning for the country's rise in ice events.

"We strongly believe that this achievement is just the beginning of our historic rise on ice for the Philippines," said Bachmann.

"Our remarkable performance at the Asian Winter Games lays the foundation for the greater challenge of achieving Winter Olympic and World-level success in the years to come."

With an Asian Winter Games medal finally in the bag, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham 'Bambol' Tolentino said that a Winter Olympics medal in Italy next year becomes a much more realistic possibility.

"This (Asian Winter Games gold) is too good to be true. Shocking, that's the least I can say. Now, the path is clearer toward our first medal in the Winter Olympics," said Tolentino.

2025-02-15T04:50:20Z