Fifty-fifty

When I criticized the Philippine Team's performance after the 2015 Sea Games in Singapore, sports officials got irked and wanted to chop my head from my media outfit. I was then calling for a halt in the numerous sporting competitions in the guise of being a grassroots program. We train our young athletes only to be left behind during international competitions in lieu of foreign talents with Filipino blood. Now the smoke of the recently-concluded Sea Games in Malaysia has cleared and we were again humiliated by the likes of Singapore and Vietnam. Chef de mission Cynthia Carreon predicted a 50 gold medal haul and probably a fourth or fifth finish. The Philippines accounted for 29 gold medals in the last edition of the Games in Singapore. However, we ended up sixth again with a measly 24 gold medal harvest. For the last three Sea Games, the country hasn't cracked the 30 gold medal barrier. In the 1999 Brunei Games, the Philippines won only 20 gold medals but there were only 233 events in 27 sports compared to the Kuala Lumpur Games where 497 events in 37 sports were contested. Therefore, basing on this, the Philippines performance in Malaysia was its worst ever. So again who's to blame? The POC who's in charge of the training of the athletes should again take the responsibility but surely "Kining mga tawhana wa na jud ulaw." I remembered a losing coach from Japan who committed "harakiki" for the disgrace. But here, our officials seems not affected "Kapalmuksnajud." As usual, there are excuses, several athletes get injured like Ej Obiena. ( a sure gold in the pole vault) and the exclusions of events where we expected to excel like women's weight lifting and unfair scheduling like the 100 meters which was just a few minutes from the 400 meter-hurdles where our bet Eric Cray won. But I believe these are just shallow reasons. NSA's that didn't deliver should review their program. Would you believe we did'nt win a single gold medal in archery, swimming, bowling, karate, tennis, cycling, golf, badminton and muaythai. These are sports where we excel in the past. Yes, we have become the laughing stock of the region, imagine losing to countries like Singapore with only a 5.7 million population and Malaysia (32 million). In 2019 we will host the next Sea Games but with the rate we are going, do you think we could become champions? Right now, Philippine sports is 50-50, "Hapitnamamatay".

DID YOU KNOW? RACE BIB RELAY

Algerian runner Abbes Tehami breasted the tape in the 1991 Brussels Marathon. Officials however were in doubt as he looked nothing like the Alergian runner AbesTehaniwho started the race. Tehami who won the race was several inches taller and clean-shaven while the Tehani who started the race had a thick black moustache. It was impossible that he stopped and shaved along the way. The awarding of the first prizes which was 4,500 pounds was suspended while officials checked the runners at the control points. It was discovered that it was Abbes Tehami's coach who took off from the starting line, ran 16 kilometers then swapped running vests with the real Tehami who was waiting for him behind a tree. Both were disqualified "Lumanailang style."