SEA GAMES CHANCES IN DOUBT
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 11 Sep 2013
The Philippines should go all-out to extricate itself from its lowest sixth overall finish two years ago when the 27th edition of the Southeast Asian Games raise its curtains this December in two key cities of Myanmar.
But how?
Three months into this year?s biennial conclave the Philippines has already lost 15 of the 36 gold medals the Filipino athletes hauled down in 2011 in Indonesia.
The national delegation, whose composition, incidentally, has not yet been finalized even as its rivals from 10 other countries have already been in Europe, the United States and other sports capital in the world training, can, likewise, not be able to rely on the 13 silver medals of the 56 its predecessors brought home two years ago.
The cancellation of eight sports alone ? baseball, softball, bowling, bridge, fin swimming, fencing, sport climbing and lawn tennis from this year?s calendar ? all played in Indonesia in 2011 by the Games Organizing Committee cost the Philippines eight gold medals, including a pair each in bridge and softball.
A gold each in baseball, fin swimming, sport climbing and tennis have also gone into thin air as Filipino practitioners in these sports were not even considered for inclusion in the national delegation going to City of Naypyitaw, the main hub of the Games, and secondary venue Yangoon for the same reason that the Games hosts had also scrapped them from this year?s calendar.
Events as the eight balls for men and women in billiards and snookers, men?s 4000-meter individual pursuit in cycling and the men?s 65-kilogram and 70-kilogram sanshou in wushu where the Filipinos brought home five gold medals will not also be contested in Myanmar.
The Philippine Olympic Committee set up as one of the criteria for members hip in the 2013 contingent the potential gold medals of each aspirant, meaning the silver medals won in Palembang and Jakarta, but 13 of projected gold medals won?t be realized with the scrapping of bowling, lawn tennis and soft tennis as well as three events in cycling and wushu.
POC chair Tom Carrasco and fellow SEA Games task force member Paul Ycasas of the Philippine Sports Commission, both echoed in last Friday?s SCOOP session that these handicaps will, definitely, have negative effects in the country?s bid to at least improve by at least a notch the hole the 2011 delegation dug the country in.
As if the cancellation of the eight disciplines and five events were not enough, the delay in the final composition of the PH contingent can put the Filipino athletes? 2013 campaign in jeopardy.
True, the task force, which also includes chef de mission Jeff Tamayo of soft tennis and Romy Magat of lawn tennis, had recommended and the POC approved the first batch of 162 athletes in 26 sports as sure to make the trip to Myanmar, still a list containing 86 names are still awaiting final imprimatur pending validation as to whether they are qualified to go.
The women?s basketball team, for instance, which ended up with the silver medal the last time around and should have made it under the potential gold criteria has to wait for the results of the FIBA-Asia tournament where it is entered, to officially join the trip. So is the men?s under-23 football squad, which has to qualify in a coming tournament .
Swimming, which despite not a winning a single gold medal in Indonesia has already an approved 17-man lineup, is still asking for five more. Archery had three pending approval, billiards and snooker also has three, chess (6 additional).
Golf is also asking for two additional athletes in its team ), karatedo (1 additional), muay thai (4 additional), pencat silats (2 additional), windsurfing (1additional), shooting (3 additional), taekwondo (2 additional),weightlifting (2 additional), wrestling (6 additiojnal) and wushu (7 additional) .
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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