Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas (SWP) president Monico Puentevella wants the government to put premium on grassroots sports following the country’s successful participation in the Paris Olympics that came to a close on Sunday.

Puentevella said grassroots tournaments should be prioritized so that the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) would have a solid pipeline of talents in the coming editions of the Summer Games.

Puentevella knows what he is talking about.

In fact, he served as commissioner of the PSC from 1994 to 2000 in which he spearheaded the creation of Batang Pinoy — the annual grassroots tourney for young athletes.

His federation — the SWP — had also done a good job in discovering new talents like Elreen Ando, Vanessa Sarno and John Ceniza, who are expected to see action until the Melbourne Olympics in 2032.

“Stop building infrastructures in faraway places that become useless and white elephants. Pour more money on training and international exposures,” said Puentevella, adding that athletes from the Palarong Pambansa like Carlos Yulo, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas all emerged with Olympic medals.

Aside from grassroots, Puentevella stressed that individual sports should also be given priority.

In the Paris Games, for instance, the country deployed athletes from individual events like gymnastics, athletics, swimming, rowing, taekwondo, golf, judo, boxing and fencing.

“It’s obvious to the people now that if we want to win more medals in the Olympics, individual sports should be given more priority,” the former Bacolod congressman added.

“Gymnastics, weightlifting, golf, table tennis, lawn tennis, archery, shooting, boxing, badminton should have more support from the government.”