PHL ATHLETES HAVE EVOLVED –TOLENTINO
EXPECTATIONS may not have been met in Cambodia but the results from the 32nd Southeast Asian Games showed Filipino athletes have evolved into worldclass standards.
“Team Philippines is stronger now than before. Our athletes have already evolved and improved,” Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino told a special session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.
“They have already leveled up and they’re already competing on the level of powerhouse nations,” added Tolentino in the forum held at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Conference Hall at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
The Philippines sent 840 athletes to Cambodia and brought home 58 gold, 85 silver and 117 bronze medals, surpassing the medal haul of 52-70104 in Vietnam last year.
Those numbers in Cambodia, he said, are proof that most Filipino athletes are adapting to the changing environment and challenging competition.
Tolentino said the momentum from Cambodia could push Filipino athletes to surpass the four gold, two silver and 15 bronze medals won at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018 when they compete in the Asiad’s 19th edition in Hangzhou set September 30 to October 8.
“I’m pretty sure that we will surpass it,” said Tolentino as he made special mention of Olympic and world champion Hidilyn Diaz Naranjo, Asia’s best pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena, two-time world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo as gold medal potentials in Hangzhou.
“We also have our boxers, our weightlifters and even our golfers who could contend for the gold in the Asian Games,” he said.
On top of his boxing list are Tokyo Olympics silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio and bronze medalist now pro Eumir Felix Marcial as well as the women’s golf team that 2018 women’s team gold medalist Bianca Pagdanganan could very well lead after pro golfers are now allowed in the continental games. Tolentino reiterated in the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Milo, Philippine Sports Commission, POC and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. that most of the gold and silver medalists in Cambodia are shoo-in for the Hangzhou games and that an initial study by the POC showed at least 400 athletes could be sent to Hangzhou.
In hindsight, Tolentino told the forum that the Philippines could have fared better than its fighting fifth-place finish in Cambodia, saying missed opportunities in the battle for gold tolled heavily in the country’s bid to land fourth behind Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia in the medals race.
He cited the 40 of the 87 silver medals Filipino athletes clinched in Cambodia were in subjective sports with the outcome “decided by the judges.”
“Vietnam and Cambodia halved those 40 silvers. So, analyze it. Conservatively, [we lost] 20 golds,” he said.
But size, according to Tolentino, mattered in Cambodia.
“We fielded only 840 athletes while the top three countries sent close to 2,000 athletes each and we still got those results,” he said.
The medal output in Cambodia fell one gold short of the 59 which the country won in 1987 in Jakarta with the late athletics queen Lydia de Vega-mercado, swimmer Eric Buhain and superstar bowlers Paeng Nepomuceno and Crystal Soberano leading the charge.
“I was really looking at 60 golds for our athletes,” he said.
After the forum, Tolentino administered the oath of office of the PSA’S new set of officers headed by president Nelson Beltran of the Philippine Star. He was later joined by PSC chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann who congratulated the new officers.