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PUERTO PRINCESA
City—The
good news is there was more of it this time.
The
essence of the Palarong Pambansa, the national showcase
of the best under-17 athletes in the archipelago, has
been drowned in recent years by all sorts of
distractions—man-made or otherwise—ranging from the
mundane (abrupt rules changes, equipment issues) to the
cataclysmic (age fraud, deaths related to heat stroke).
The
stories that have been sticking out are those tragedies
and, instead of asking how good young athletes can get,
people have begun to wonder how bad important events
like this can get.
It’s
become almost instinctive. As the smoke of fiery
competition in the Palaro dissipates, nobody really
remembers who won how many in which event.
But
things have played out differently this year, belatedly
almost. Even before the first drop of competitive sweat
was drawn, the news that greeted the country was the
absence of a top government official leading the opening
ceremonies, a protocol that was dismissed after
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and even Philippine
Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William Ramirez decided
not to be here.
The
bad-news machine looked to hit second gear after
softball officials were criticized for last-minute
changes in the kind of bats that would be used.
Were the
routine complaints of age cheating just around the
corner? Unbelievably so, they weren’t. Not even close.
Normally, some coach of a provincial regional athletic
association would come forward to begin the accusations
mill. During the six-day competition proper, not one
protest was aired. (Eventually, the bat issue was
settled with softball officials declaring it a nonissue.)
The
absence of controversy set up one of the most amazing
storylines in recent Palaro memory: the takeover of the
second-generation athletes.
The
fathers of Isidro del Prado Jr., Jose Renato Unso and
Justin Tabunda Jr. were all Southeast Asian champions
even before they were born.
There
are only probably a few who remember or might have seen
the greatness of their dads during their prime, but no
trouble. The young guns of the track are reviving old
glory.
“There’s
some pressure but, obviously, you work hard and you pray
that things will work out the way you want it,” del
Prado Jr. said.
“The
only thing I didn’t want to happen,” Unso concurred,
“was to embarrass my dad.”
It could
be sensed that in these kids’ cases, the genes, more
than any other thing, were the defining factor in their
success as seen in the ease by which they converted into
athletics.
Del
Prado wasn’t into competitive running until he tagged
along with his dad in the latter’s coaching clinic. Only
12 months ago.
Unso was
a subdivision-level basketball player until the track
caught his fancy four years ago.
At the
end of track competitions here, they didn’t break any
records, but they were far and away from the best times
posted in 2007.
(Compared with the 50.6 seconds and two minutes and 2.7
seconds posted last year by other runners, del Prado was
below the 50-second mark in the 400s and way below the
two-minute mark in the 800s. Unso’s times in the 110-
and 400-meter hurdles were also faster than last year,
so was Tabunda’s in the 1,500).
To go
with the golds in the 4x100 and 4x400, del Prado and
Unso finished with four mints apiece and Tabunda three.
Not bad, especially for del Prado who played in his
first Palaro and, as he enters college in June,
essentially his last.
“I’m
just honored to be a part of this group,” Tabunda, who
will get shoo-in slots with his teammates to the
national-training pool, said. “To win with your friends
and with all the history that goes with our victories,
this is a special time for us.”
Toward
the end of the tournament, there was muffled speculation
that the President would grace the closing ceremonies
Sunday. She never came. Her predecessor was also thought
to arrive. He didn’t either.
And it’s
a most beautiful irony.
The
Palaro ended the way it started. It was devoid of
politics and in between, the focus was on the fresh, new
faces on the field.
And
Philippine sports, we all know, is far, far better off
for that.
Another
championship DNA story
Gerson
Nietes was beginning his climb to the boxing ranks at a
time when an older cousin reached its peak.
Nietes
won the gold in the powder-weight class (36 lb) in the
Palaro, a journey that started late last year.
“I was
in the middle of the qualifiers when my father called me
up and broke the news that my cousin won the world
championship,” Nietes, 16, said.
The
cousin is Donnie Nietes, the reigning World Boxing
Organization (WBO) minimumweight champion who collared
the title last September.
Actually, the WBO king isn’t the only Nietes who got
into boxing. His father Gerson Sr. was the 1983 Palaro
champion when the flyweight division was still played in
the games. His uncle Dan was also Philippine champion in
the 1990s.
“That’s
why when I said I’d like to get into boxing, nobody
really disagreed with me,” Gerson Jr., who started
boxing at age five, said.
The
boxing blood may also be the reason why Nietes, a native
of Bacolod City, hasn’t lost a match, or so he claims.
He has won seven straight to qualify and three more in
the Palaro to get to the gold, the only one not won by a
boxer from the powerhouse Davao boxing team. Last year
he was disqualified after medical officials alleged he
had an irregular heartbeat (which Nietes’s coaches
called a ploy to exclude him from the roster).
The year
before that in 2006, Nietes also roughly won 10 matches
on his way to the Palaro gold in the same category.
So what
does he eventually want to become in the future, an
Olympic gold winner or a professional world champion
like his cousin?
“Whatever comes my way, I’ll take it,” Nietes, adjudged
best boxer in the games, said, “Right now I just want to
concentrate on winning more fights. I hate to lose and I
want to keep on winning as long as I can.” |
