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BEIJING—Eric Ang did not shoot down a medal in the 29th
Beijing Olympics. That was expected.
Ang
finished dead last in a field of 35 in the men’s
individual trap event of shooting. That was not
expected.
Ang, the
oldest on Team Philippines at 37, was cold when he
started the first three sets in a hot and humid
Saturday, shooting down 19, 24 and 22 points (each set
has a maximum 25 points). It was a rainy and cold
Sunday, but the Laoag City businessman could only do 21
and 20 for a 106 total.
That was
way off the 121 set by Czech David Kostelecky in the
qualifying sessions. Kostelecky later booked a perfect
25 points (146) in the finals, beating for the gold
medal Italy’s Giovanni Pellielo (23-143) and Russia’s
Alexey Alipov (21-142).
“I’m
still so dizzy after the event,” said Ang, who used his
three-year-old Beretta DT 10 equipment in his first
Olympics stint. “The Beijing Olympics was a learning
experience. Next time, I’ll really prepare for it.”
Now Ang,
who was out of the country practically all year long
campaigning in major international competitions in
Europe, is looking at trying to qualify anew for the
London 2012 Games.
“I hope
that I can compensate for this loss in the next
Olympics. I’ll prepare harder if I qualify,” said Ang,
every inch a picture of disappointment at the interview
room of the Beijing Trap Shooting Range in the outskirts
of the city.
Ang was
the first on the 15-athlete Team Philippines to crash
out with a thud in these Games that this early is
shaping up in the hosts’ favor.
China has cornered five gold medals (plus two silvers) to
lead South Korea (3-2-0 gold-silver-bronze) and the
United States (2-2-4). The Czech Republic has two gold
medals so far, while also breaking into the gold medal
column only on the second day of competitions; with one
apiece were Australia, The Netherlands, Spain, Great
Britain, Romania and, interestingly, Thailand.
Twenty-four-year-old Prapawadee Jarroenrattanatarakoon
topped the women’s 53-kg class in weightlifting, gifting
Thailand, the most successful Southeast Asian country in
terms of sports, its second weightlifting gold medal and
the fifth—to go with three golds in boxing—in the
Olympics. Compared to the Philippines which started
participating in the Olympics in 1924, Thailand only
joined the quadrennial games in 1952.
But for
Jose Cojuangco Jr., the president of the Philippine
Olympic Committee, what transpired the first two days
has all been expected. “These are all what we expected,”
Cojuangco told BusinessMirror. “They [Ang and archer
Mark Javier] seem to be not feeling at home [in the
Olympics]. They are not used to this situation.”
Javier
was early atop the Beijing stage and managed a
32nd-place finish in the men’s individual competition of
archery, knocking two points off the national record
with his 654-point performance in the rankings
competition that President Arroyo and husband Jose
Miguel witnessed in its entirety Saturday. He competes
in the knockout round-of-64 on Wednesday against
Chinese-Taipei’s Kuo Cheng-Wei.
On
Monday, two more Filipinos will try their luck—JB Walsh
in the heats of the men’s 200- meter butterfly of
swimming where the celebrated Michael Phelps is also
seeing action; and Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting.
A medal
is also not expected from the two, although for Diaz,
she has nothing to lose but everything to gain.
Diaz is
only 17 and is gathering experience from these Games
when she competes in the women’s 58-kg category. She
earned a wild-card entry here, a privilege the
International Olympic Committee and weighlifting’s
international federation provides potential world
champions.
Diaz has
11 opponents in her class, including world champion Chen
Yanging of China, Thailand’s Wandee Kameaim and North
Korea’s Ae Jong O. She owns a personal best lift of 186
kg, better than the 183 of the Solomon Islands’ Wendy
Hale who is four years her senior and who has only two
international competitions to her name. Chen’s world
record stands at 240.
Helping
inspire the Filipino athletes was President Arroyo, the
country’s first president to grace the Olympics, who
extended her stay after attending the spectacular
opening ceremonies Friday to watch Javier shoot arrows
and visit the Team Philippines Residential Unit at the
sprawling Olympic Village. She also intended to watch
the US-China men’s basketball match Sunday evening
before flying back home on a chartered
plane. |
