Gomez, Cañete out to help deliver elusive gold medal

Games Today

(OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore) 3 p.m. – Zimbabwe vs Philippines 4:30 p.m. – Chinese Taipei vs Indonesia 6 p.m. – Austria vs Hing Kong

7:30 p.m. – Singapore vs Malaysia

SINGAPORE – Veterans Tani Gomez and Roy Cañete are likely on their final stint as members of the water polo national team, and they look forward to ending it with a bang or – to be more precise – with a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games.

Gomez and Cañete, both 38 years old, are the only members of the PH team with SEAG silver and bronze medals, and their goal is to lead their younger peers to claiming the elusive gold.

“That’s our goal,” said Gomez, a legit ‘Batang Maynila’ who was born in Leveriza near the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. “Even noong nag-umpisa kami sa water polo, hindi naman nagbago yung gusto namin makamit.”

“Hopefully itong taon, sa Pilipinas pa gagawin yung SEA Games, matupad na sana yung inaasam na gold medal. Mahirap manalo, malalakas yung kalaban na ibang bansa, pero sisikapin namin na makuha para sa bayan,” added Gomez, who plays goalie.

The two started as divers, with Gomez even making it to the national team, while Cañete was part of the training pool. They both turned to water polo and in 2001 with Dale Evangelista, they became members of the Philippine Team.

The troika powered the Philippines to a bronze medal finish in 2003, silver medals in 2005 – the last time the Philippines staged the SEA Games – 2007 and 2009 – the last without Cañete as he opted to retire prior to the meet.