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With
nary a gold to show—and its Southeast Asian (SEA)
neighbors gobbling up most of the mints in the
preopening events in shooting—Team Philippines faces an
uphill climb in its defense of the overall championship
when the 24th SEA Games formally begins tomorrow in the
province of Nakhon Rachasima and two other satellite
venues in Thailand.
The
woeful performance of the marksmen had the Filipinos in
sixth place in the starting line for the official start
of the 11-nation conclave, way behind Thailand, which
jumpstarted their bid by winning 14 golds, 16 silvers
and six bronzes. Also ahead of
Philippines
are Singapore with 8-6-6 (gold-silver-bronze) Vietnam
(7-3-11), Malaysia (2-3-5) and even Myanmar (2-2-1).
“It was
not a good start for us, but we’re not losing hope,”
said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William
Ramirez.
Among
the 129-man contingent that left the country yesterday
for Nakhon Rachasima and the cities of
Bangkok and Pattaya were the athletes and officials of swimming,
water polo, billiards and snooker, gymnastics, tennis,
beach volleyball, wushu and squash.
The
boxing squad and the much-ballyhooed men’s basketball
team were part of yesterday’s batch led by Philippine
Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco Jr.
Cojuangco said recently that the Philippines will find
it difficult to seize the overall championship.
“Kung
sa simula pa lang ay sasabihin na nating wala na tayong
laban sa overall title,
sana hindi na
tayo nagpadala ng ganito kadaming atleta.
Sana
P50
million at hindi P100 million na lang ang
ginastos natin,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez
leads another wave of 174 athletes and officials who
will fly to Bangkok today. He will be joined by the bets
from baseball, futsal, archery, athletics, judo, pencak
silat, petanque, wrestling and the upgraded women’s
basketball team.
“We’ll
still go there to do our best to win as many gold medal
as we can and defend the overall championship,” added
Ramirez.
“Hindi
pa dapat tayo sumuko, simula pa lang ’yan,” said
judoka John Baylon, who is the country’s flag-bearer in
the opening ceremonies. “Walang epekto sa amin ’yan
hindi pagkapanalo ng gold ng shooting. Ang
focus namin ay doon sa mga sariling event
namin,” added Baylon, who, at 41, continues to defy
Father Time as he aims for a seventh SEA Games gold.
More
golds before torch lighting
Besides
the 33 gold medals in shooting, six more mints—four in
gymnastics and two in table tennis—will be given out
before the day the torch is lighted.
Those
six events will be up for grabs today, but the
Philippines is not expected to win any of them.
The
Filipinos’ realistic chance of finally winning its first
gold will be on December 6 in cycling’s cross-country
event (men’s and women’s). Two golds in sepak takraw
will be also at stake that day.
Then on
Thursday, the action goes full throttle on all fronts
with a total of 27 gold medals to be disputed, including
nine in athletics and seven in swimming.
But the
next seven days will be the crucial stretch with a total
of 387 gold medals up for grabs, and with
Thailand
expected to run away with the overall title, the
remaining 17 mints to be contested on the final day of
competition.
Besides
the shooters, there are other Filipinos who have already
plunged into action, among them the women’s football
team and the table-tennis squad.
The
Filipina booters opened their campaign with a 2-2 draw
against Laos, which is a setback of sorts as they were
expected to win the match. Thus, they must beat
defending champion Vietnam today to have a strong chance
of making it to the semifinals and remain on track of
winning their first-ever medal in the Games.
Meanwhile, a festive and elaborate opening ceremony will
usher this edition of the biennial meet, which
Thailand
is hosting for a record sixth time. It will be held at
the newly refurbished His Majesty the King’s 80th
Birthday Anniversary Stadium in Nakhon Rachasima, more
popularly known as Korat. |
