Newly appointed Philippine Sports Commission chairperson Noli Eala painted a broad picture Wednesday of the “modernized” Project: Gintong Alay program he envisions to be part of the PSC’s initiatives for elite athletes during his term with the government sports agency.

Provisionally calling it the “Gintong Laban ng Atletang Dakila,” Eala explained in the live PSA forum that “the ideal is to pool private funding that will be channeled towards specific programs that will be created by the PSC.

“These programs are basically infrastructure that will help our athletes – science-based and technology-driven enhancement of training and, of course, ancillary services that are required to create a winning formula for sports.”

The new PSC chief pointed out that the “blueprint for success” was already drawn up that enabled weightlifter Hidylin Diaz to hoist the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the Tokyo Summer Games in 2022 and for gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo to become a back-to-back world champion.

Diaz, who made her Olympic debut in the 2008 Beijing Olympiad, needed two more Olympics outings in the quadrennial sports showcase before her golden triumph in the Japanese capital last year.

In what she fondly described as “Team HD,” the weightlifter was backed by full complement that included Chinese coach Gao Kaiwen, strength and conditioning coach Julius Naranjo, who is now her husband, nutritionist Jeanette Aro and psychologist Dr. Karen Katrina Trinidad.

To get away from the country’s distractions and focus on her Olympic build-up, Diaz, coach Gao and Naranjo stayed in a remote part pf Malaysia for her intensive training before the Tokyo Summer Games.

“To my mind this (blueprint) is very simple: it is coaching both in skills and conditioning, psychology, sports nutrition, physiotherapy, international exposure and the proper infrastructure and equipment,” Eala elaborated.

• Eala sees integrating Gintong Alay's 'best parts', modern methods for PSC programs

With some tweaks, he said he will take the cue from the “godfather system” that complemented the Gintong Alay system that ushered in Philippine sports revival in overseas competition in the early 80s that lasted until the late 90s.

• PSC leadership officially turned over to Eala

This meant that corporate sponsors and leading businessmen bankrolling specific sports such as the late tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco supporting basketball, former PNB chairman Panfilo Domingo being the patron of lawn tennis and print and TV mogul Roberto Benedicto funding swimming.

“Gintong Alay was the time when there were less sports back then and a godfather was assigned to each one,” Eala recalled.

He, however, noted that with as many as 50 national sports associations that the agency is currently supporting, the upgraded Gintong Alay “will not be necessarily on a per sport basis. The idea is to pool private funding that will be channeled towards specific programs that will be created by the PSC.

The PSC honcho hopes to broach plans about the ambitious undertaking once the remaining three commissioners are named and appointed to the agency “so we can get inputs from the rest.”

Besides Eala, only former bowling standout Bong Coo has been named so far to the PSC board composed of five members, although a reliable PSC source said that Eala informed the agency’s key officials recently that the new commissioners would likely be known before the end of the month.

“This is the program I am building right now. I am waiting for the full board to be complete so we can get inputs from the rest,” said the 11th PSC chairperson, who vowed not to overlook the other mandates of the PSC such as the development of sports at the grassroots.

“And remember we have also have to support the emerging sports, the sports that are developing now and the traditional sports that are mandatory (in the Olympics) such as track and field and swimming.

“By harnessing the support of the private sector, we can create more Hidylin Diazes and more Caloy Yulos in the future.”