THE Philippine Skating Union (PSU) will host the first short track speed skating event and Asian Figure Skating Championships to follow up on the successful staging of the International Skating Union (ISU) World Development Trophy 2014 over the weekend at the Megatrade Hall in Mandaluyong City.

PSU President Pocholo Veguillas said the world’s best speedskaters are expected to compete in the event, which is set later this year in one of SM’s three rinks in Metro Manila.

“They [ISU] want us to host because they observed that we are very organized and diligent in hosting a major event like the World Development Trophy. The ISU is very confident whenever we host a tournament that nothing untoward happens,” Veguillas said.

Veguillas added it was the ISU that asked the Philippines to host the events to further promote ice skating sports in the country after the historic stint of Michael Christian Martinez in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

The country first hosted the World Development Trophy, an annual competition for amateur and rising figure skaters without international exposure, in April last year where 53 skaters from 11 countries participated.

Veguillas said they are looking at the Mall of Asia Arena for the Asian Figure Skating Championships in 2016.

Short track speedskating is a regular event in the Winter Games. Filipino-American JR Celski and Filipino-Canadian Gilmore Junio competed in the event in Sochi.

Veguillas will be attending the ISU Congress in June in Dublin, Ireland, in order to formalize the country’s intention to host the international events.