Local sports tourism gets another big shot in the arm when the 11th Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships presented by the Philippine Sports Commission under the NST-IAC comes off the wraps on 23 June at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

“We had expected only about 500 athletes but those numbers are swelling since we presently have about 400 of them already. We could end up with over 600 grapplers from 31 countries,” Pilipinas Sambo Federation Inc. president Paolo Tancontian said.

Tancontian stressed that regional neighbor Cambodia, with its thriving sambo community, is fielding a 42-member squad that will seek to make its influence felt in the five-day meet sanctioned by the International Sambo Federation.

“These numbers may seem small for team sports, but for sambo that is a lot of entries.”

He disclosed that even distant Asian countries Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Iran and Syria, plus Oceania nations Australia and New Zealand were keenly interested in joining the blue-ribbon sambo tournament.

Tancontian added that were it not for the tensions in the Middle East “we had looked forward to all 36 countries of the Sambo Union of Asia and Oceania to send teams. If we get 31 nations, I would be very happy.”

PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio said this positive and encouraging development was another sign that the government sports agency’s advocacy in supporting sports tourism was a worthwhile economic endeavor.

“Hosting a well-organized international competition like the forthcoming 11th Asia-Oceania Sambo Championships is always a welcome enterprise that generates income for both the government and the tourism industry,” Gregorio noted.

“Sports events like these are win-win situations for all: the foreign visitors, fans, and the various stakeholders involved in staging them.”

The PSC chief said that Administrative Order No. 38 signed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last October creating the National Sports Tourism Inter-Agency Committee has been a huge boon on this score.