MANILA, Philippines?The archery team will be the first athletes to test the viability of the proposed National Training Center which the Philippine Olympic Committee plans to build in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac province.

POC president Jose ?Peping? Cojuangco Jr. said an archery training facility and a range would be put up soon inside the Cojuangco-owned estate.

The Olympic Council of Asia last week approved a grant of $50,000 (P2.4 million) to the POC to come up with a plan for the NTC.

The International Olympic Committee also pledged to bankroll the construction of the sports complex on a 50-hectare site inside Luisita.

?Archers will live and train on the site of the proposed training center in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games,? said Cojuangco. ?We want to see what happens if you put athletes in seclusion with no other focus but to train.?

While training, the archers will be housed in temporary dormitories inside the site which the Cojuangcos are offering for a long-term lease at P1 a year.

Cojuangco said the archers will be joined by trainers, nutritionists, psychologists and sports doctors.

?They (archers) will eat what the nutritionists recommend and go into physical fitness and stress-management training for the Games,? said Cojuangco.

Archery is expected to become a rich source of medals for the Philippines in the SEA Games in Laos on Dec. 9 to 18.

Cojuangco said a track oval, baseball/softball fields, swimming/diving pools, tennis courts, a football field, velodrome and multipurpose gymnasiums would be built at the site.