The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) made sure that the medalists of the 3rd Asian Youth Games (AYG) were properly rewarded after handing them with cash incentives yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio said they had to ensure that the incentives would be given to the young athletes without any legal or technical drawbacks.

“The reason why we’re giving these incentives only now is because we had to go through, Atty. Iroy and the PSC, they had to go through a very tedious, complicated process to give us justification as to why we’re giving incentives to young athletes,” said Gregorio, who spearheaded the awarding rites of the athletes who finished with seven gold, seven silver, and 10 bronze medals. Gold medalists received P500,000 while silver and bronze medalists took home P250,000 and P150,000, respectively.

“We were delayed because we were making sure that we would not encounter any technical issues because, for the last 36 years of the PSC, the only people who have been given incentives are the elite athletes.”

Gregorio said incentivizing young athletes motivates them not only to dream big but also to win big for the country.