Filipinas at the forefront of PH sports
FOR three days after the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia commenced on August 18, the Philippine contigent only saw victories in trickles. Even those who were deemed to deliver a silver at the very least finished their competitions empty-handed.
So when Hidilyn Diaz won the first gold for the Philippines on the fourth day of the quadrennial meet on August 21, even those uninterested in sports jumped for joy on seeing the country in the winner’s column.
Indeed, Diaz’s performance boosted the morale of her compatriots at the Asiad and more so her countrymen back home and countless others spread around the world.
Setting off a winning streak, 17-year-old Filipino-Japanese Yuka Saso won the second and third gold medals for the Philippines in golf, five days after Diaz’s win. Bianca Pagdanganan also snagged a bronze in the women’s individual competition. The other member of the team was Lois Kaye Go.
On August 29-toward the end of the Asiad, Margielyn Didal snatched the country’s fourth gold in the women’s street skateboarding competition. Posting an untouchable top score of 30.4 points for her Asian Games debut, the 19-year- old Cebuana ruled the games from start to finish, with the athlete from Japan, Isa Kaya, coming in second with 25.0 points for the silver and 12-year- old Indonesian Nylmas Bunga getting the bronze with her tally of 19.8 points.
Overall, the Asian Games 2018 was truly a women’s triumph for Philippine sports, asserting the country’s high ranking in the global gender equality measure. Besides these gold medallists, the nation has already had two women presidents, sees had many female senators and representatives in public service, as well as a growing number of females assuming top executive posts.
“La hatkamingg old medalists ay ba bae, tap osyung ibang bronze medalists, mg a a pa tl an gang la la ki( All the gold medalists in the Asiad are girls, while there were only least four male bronze medalists),” Diaz proudly told reporters when she arrived the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Indonesia.
“Siyempreyung impact nun, women empowerment (Of course, these triumphs have a strong impact on women empowerment),” she added. “Mg ab ab ae natal a gang a yo nangn ag dad ala. Naip akita na min na kay at ala ga din naming mg a ba ba en am a kip ag lab ans ai ba’ t-i bang la rang an s aka hits aangb ans a( Women are in the lead now because we have shown that we can compete in any endeavor anywhere in the world”).
Proud to be a woman, she hopes these developments will further help men change the way they percieve women.
“I believe we have shown them that we have significant abilities, especially today, because in my experience in the past, men didn’t think I could get anywhere in weightlifting. They would say, just stay home or that I’m not suited to the sport, and it might make me ‘macho’,” she recalled. “But then here we are, achieving what men thought we couldn’t, and we’re very proud to do that.”
Saso could not agree with Diaz more, saying, “No one should ever look down on women because we can.”
As for Go, she shared, “I feel like it’s our time now. It’s the time for women to empower the world. All this shows just how much women can do and why no one should ever underestimate our abilities.”
The Philippines achieved a winning participation at the Asian Games 2018 with four gold, two silver and 15 bronze medals, successfully surpassing the country’s harvest at the 2014 Asian Games in Korea, where Filipino athletes managed to win only one gold, three silvers and 11 bronzes.