Philippine Sports? Success and Failures mulled at SCOOP sa Kamayan
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Aug 2012
MANILA (PNA) -- While the 11-athlete delegation the country sent to the recently-ended Games of the 30th Olympiad struggled and failed to bring home a single medal, other Filipino athletes made up from that London Games debacle by marching triumphantly in other fronts.
The biggest victors were the Team Manila?s girl softball team which snatched the country?s first gold medal in the Big League World Series for softbelles 16 to 18- year bracket, despite competing shorthanded and without financial support from the government agency in charge of sports.
The Manilenyas, known in the Little League International scene as ?Golden Girls, ? arrived at the tournament site in Kalamazoo, Michigan minus three players for lack of funds, lost their first two games as a result, but bounced back to win seven straight, including a 14-1 thrashing of Westminster of Los Angeles to improve on their predecessors? runner up finishes in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
A team nurtured by the Philippine Swimming League and Diliman Preparatory School proved they own the country?s finest and the brightest pool artists by copping a total 70 medals, 22 of them coloured gold, in the recent Singapore International Swimming Championships held two weeks ago in that island nation.
Not to be outdone, another national squad, this time in karatedo, hauled down a silver and a pair of bronze medals in Asia-Pacific Karatedo Championships held also in Singapore.
Over in Bangkok, the PH memory games squad collected 10 gold medals in the Fifth Thailand International Open memory Championships and Mind Festival held last July 7 in that Thai Capital.
?I?m not saying that funding is totally not needed in our athletes attempts to bring honor to the county in the international sporting arena,? Codinera told members of the Sports Communicators Organization of the Philippines (SCOOP) during its public service forum yesterday at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.
?What I?m saying is, the money intended to sports and athletes? development should be managed properly and go to where it is intended for and not to the pocket of our sports leaders,? Codinera, who was also in basketball, boxing, athletics and a number of other sports during his competitive days, said during the session sponsored by Powerade, AKTV and FILA.
Former Sen. Nikki Coseteng, owner of the Diliman Preparatory School and the number 1 supporter of the Philippine Swimming League development program, agreed saying mismanagement of the country?s sports program and corruption in the ranks of sports leaders are the biggest hindrance in developing world-class athletes.
?In swimming, for example, a couple of years ago, the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association was lucky to be a recipient of a P30 million financial aid from PAGCOR, precisely to develop swimmers for this year?s London Olympics,? Coseteng recalled. ?Pero ano nangyari? The money went to a swimming school owned by the former PAGCOR chairman, while PASA failed to develop a single swimmer that qualified in the last Olympics.?
?As a result, the country had to rely on the Universiality Places or the wild card offer by the International Olympic Committee for us to be able to send a male and a female swimmers to London,? Coseteng explained. ?And worse, the PASA sent to the Games were not actually the best as there were no tryouts conducted.?
Besides bringing home 22 gold medals, the PSL-DPS swimmers also broke seven SICC meet records with freestyle and backstroke artist Paula Cayanan erasing from the books a pair of norms.
Kevin Claveria was, likewise, voted the most outstanding swimmer in the 15-17 age bracket for boys , Carl Bormate in the 13-14 category for boys and Robin Seranillo in the 7-8 level, also for boys.
Also in attendance in yesterday?s SCOOP session were PH memory team head and double gold medalist Robert Racasa Memory Games Grandmaster Johan Randall Abrina, four-gold medal winner and Mark Anthony Castaneda, Cristine Barao and Princess Mendoza, winner of a gold medal each.
ASPAC karatedo championships silver medalist Dante Aquino Jr. and bronze medalists Debbie Pepito and Harry Perdigones were also guests along with coaches Dante Aquino and Benny Blanco, team manager Carlito de Guzman Jr. and players Jason Manalo and Donna Belle Mangali.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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