Philippine Skating Union (PHSU) President Nikki Cheng is calling on the government to provide more support for grassroots figure skating development in the country.
Cheng acknowledged the existing assistance from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), but emphasized the need for dedicated training time for skaters, especially with limited ice rinks available nationwide.
“For me, grassroots development. It’s giving the time to the skaters to train, and to be on that high-level caliber. Because, as you can see, our venue in the Philippines is very limited,” she said during the opening of the 2025 Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy on Saturday.
Currently, the Philippines has only three skating rinks, most of which are located in malls and shared with the public. Cheng said this environment makes it harder for skaters to train seriously.
“We only have three rinks. And our skaters are so used to trying to, paano ba? We have to mingle with the mall crowd on a day-to-day basis, if you have seen our daily operations, we have skating aids… And sobrang dami talaga,” she added.
She pointed out that other countries with strong figure skating programs have dedicated rinks, helping athletes train more efficiently and safely.
“Personally, we see the difference of those countries that are able to train in a better environment… We see medyo mas mabagal sila, hindi sila masyadong humahataw if they are going to attack a jump or when they go around the ice,” Cheng explained.
She also cited how government ice time allocation for short-track speed skating has helped athletes in that discipline. Cheng now hopes figure skaters receive similar support.
“This is really what we want to push for, to give quality time to our skaters. And we hope that the government can support us more to give that time. Kasi for example, they gave us ice time for short-track speed skating,” she said.
Twenty Filipino skaters are competing in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy from August 1 to 5 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. The event offers local skaters a rare chance to compete internationally on home ice.
After the Asian Open, the next major local event will be the National Figure Skating Championships in November, where PHSU will assess athletes for international representation.
The Philippines is targeting slots for the 2026 Winter Olympic qualifiers and the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in December.