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SEN.
Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday urged sports leaders
to gather their inputs as he pressed the alarm following
the country’s failure in garnering as many slots
possible in the coming Beijing Olympics.
While
Escudero said debates are healthy, he warned further
bickering would take the country’s drive to winning its
very first Olympic gold medal nowhere. He also called on
all stakeholders to set their sights on the 2012 Summer
Olympics in London, while pouring in all necessary
support to the athletes competing in Beijing in August.
“We’ve
held sports summits before but we did not follow the
results to the letter,” Escudero said. “So, maybe a
select field of sports leaders could gather and discuss
what action and remedies are needed to prop up our
chances in their respective disciplines, maybe in 2012,
if nothing would come in Beijing. We have to be
realistic, but not to the point of taking our faith away
from our bets in Beijing.”
Escudero
has long been batting for sports leaders to invest on
the youth and anchor the Philippines’ Olympic gold medal
drive on today’s potential upstarts.
“It
saddens sports fans like me to learn about the
unsuccessful bids by our boxers in their recent campaign
to earn Olympic berths in the qualifying in Kazakhstan.
That was our last chance, and we lost our grasp on it,”
Escudero said.
The
young senator, however, added, “In every failure comes a
new opportunity. Maybe we can use those defeats to
rearrange programs, fine-tune everything, start and see
again if they will work the next time.”
The
International Olympic Committee (IOC) also denied the
Philippines’ request for eight more Olympic berths via
the wild card, leaving the country with only 13
qualifiers, more than the minimum requirement by the
IOC.
The IOC
only grants additional wild cards to countries which
have qualified six athletes or less. The IOC said the
Philippines is also ranked among the “strong sporting
countries” for it to merit additional berths.
Rowing,
judo and archery have been lobbying for inclusion of
their athletes to the Beijing delegation.
“If the
IOC statement is an indication, then we should really
work harder to prove it. Being a strong sporting nation,
as the IOC calls the Philippines, would be given
emphasis if we will also have a stronger Olympic
program. I believe we can, we all have this faith on our
athletes,” Escudero said.
Swimming
is at the forefront of the country’s Olympic campaign,
with five representatives in Miguel Molina, Daniel
Coakley, James Walsh, Ryan Arabejo and Cristel Simms.
The
Philippine Amateur Swimming Association also qualified
two divers in Shiela Mae Perez and Rexel Ryan Fabriga.
Taekwondo is sending two representatives. They are Mary
Anotoinette Rivero and Tsomlee Go, while archery has one
in Mark Javier.
Unfortunately, only Harry Tañamor has qualified to
represent the country in boxing, the sport where
Filipinos are counting on to win our very first Olympic
gold. No boxer, however, has won an Olympic gold. The
closest a Filipino athlete has come close to it was in
1964 when Anthony Villanueva won the featherweight
silver in 1964, and then again in 1996 in
Los Angeles,
when Mansueto Velasco also settled for a silver medal.
Velasco’s brother Rhoel won a bronze medal in 1992 in
Barcelona while Leopoldo Serrantes also won a bronze in
1988 in
Seoul. |
