Handout/Philippine Skating Union
MANILA -- The Philippine Skating Union looks to improve on future hosting of international tournaments after the recently concluded Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025.
PHSU President Nikki Cheng is glad the competition pushed through despite challenges, including a broken ice resurfacing machine on the third day of the competition.
This led to a delay in the schedule due to manual resurfacing of the ice.
"I'm just happy that we made it through. Everyone has noticed that by midway of the event, we had our ice resurfacer that broke down. But ang sabi nga ng ibang atleta, if it would have happened in another country, baka hindi na natuloy yung competition," Cheng told ABS-CBN News on Thursday.
"So, I guess that we showed the Filipino resilience during this time na tuloy ang laban and the show must go on. And I'm very glad that we pulled it through. And even the Asian Skating Union and the International Skating Union are proud that we pulled it through," she added.
This marks the second time that the country has hosted the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, after 2016.
Cheng believes the issues they faced during the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy highlighted the need to improve Philippine facilities for skating, which are usually located inside malls.
"More than anything this also brought up eye openers for the Philippines that it's time for better facilities, for better equipment not only for how we serve the people, but also most especially for our athletes," she shared.
During his fourth State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed support for national athletes and revealed plans to create a nationwide sports development program.
READ: Marcos Jr. vows full support for athletes, eyes nationwide sports dev't program
The Philippine Sports Commission earlier said facilities under its care will undergo renovation and possibly have additional equipment.
Meantime, Cheng commended the over 170 figure skaters from 18 nations who participated, for still giving their all despite the issues.
"For them to pull through, I'm proud of everyone. Everyone that competed. Of all the countries that competed. It's something na for me, yun din yung sobrang pinasasalamatan ko," she said. "I saw that everyone had the grit and resilience that the show must go on. Not only for the organizing committee, but all of the athletes. So, sobrang grabe yung tingala ko rin sa lahat ng atleta," the PHSU President added.
Next on the pipeline are the Philippine National Figure Skating Championships in November and the Southeast Asian Short Track Speed Skating in January.
READ: Philippine Skating Union seeks dedicated training time for figure skaters
"So, for the next season, 2026, we probably would want to scale down again, do Southeast Asian trophies. Hindi po muna kami mag-Asian trophy muna ulit because of the conditions that happened this time. We feel that we want to establish ourselves again as good hosts and as capable hosts that we can pull it through," Cheng said.
"And it was unfortunate because in the last few years, we have been successfully hosting international events and this is why we were so confident that we're gonna go big this time," she added.
The PHSU President earlier said she hopes the country can host more tournaments in the future, helping boost sports tourism.
"So the Philippines would want to build its, like, resume once again, parang ganun. And eventually, hopefully in 2027, we are bidding for bigger things again," Cheng shared.
The PHSU President remains optimistic that hosting these competitions in the Philippines, which is a tropical country, will continue to raise awareness and more interest in the sport.
"We always see that there's some sort of fascination sa Filipino na parang, 'wow may winter sports pala tayo.' So we thank everyone that came, that came during the event," Cheng said.
"We saw pati yung mga retired figure skaters namin bumalik, showed their support. And also their families came by. So we're glad to see those old friends from the skating community. And we also want to invite people to try this sport na maiba naman," she added.