On the 15th Asian Games
this past week, ive had one more reason to stay up late. ive been following the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. not really a sporty person, but i like watching these kinds of sporting events that come only once every four years.
most probably like everyone else aware of the 15th Asiad, ive been praying and rooting for Team Philippines to nail that elusive gold. For the first five days, sadly, we weren’t able to win even a bronze medal. We were defending bronze medallists in the men’s trap event in shooting, and in the double sculls event in rowing, but a more improved foreign competition and lack of foreign exposure and adjustment on the unpredictable Qatari waters bumped our shooters and rowers from the medal positions, respectively.
the most disappointing thing so far has been our bowlers. not that i fault them for finishing not higher than fifth in any of the first four categories that have been completed, but it pains me to think that lady luck was not our side this year. Malaysia has already three golds, and South Korea two golds (out of seven medals already won), while our world-class bowlers got the wrong end of the Qatar organizers’ decision to limit the number of blocks to be played from the usual 12 to only 6. and i think this did the damage to Team Philippines. i think they weren’t able to adjust to a quicker mode of competition. with only six blocks, you have to hit your rhythm on the very first throw, or else there’s no way you can catch up. Team South Korea and Team Malaysia were very lucky, as well as the West Asian teams. Malaysia’s Mei Lan Esther Cheah was on the background during bowling competitions in the 2005 SEA Games held in Manila. but in Qatar, she was the star, winning the gold in the singles and powering her team to the trios silver and team of five gold.
still, im sure our bowlers did their best given the circumstance, and nothing can take away the fact that we have three former world champions and upcoming talents.
Luckily for Team Philippines, the boxers and taekwondo jins saved the day. Violito Payla gave RP its first assurance of a medal last Wednesday, while Veronico Domingo and Kathleen Alora gave the first two bronzes which finally put our country on the medal tally after six days. Yesterday, Mary Antoinette Rivero (probably our best chance for an Olympic medal come Beijing) gave RP its first silver in the 15th Asiad, losing unsurprisingly to a tougher Korean opponent, which i think was the gold medalist in the Athens Olympics.
by 1 a.m. today (8 p.m. Doha time), our boxers assured a fourth bronze medal for RP, while Antonio Gabica battles for our first gold in the 8-ball singles of billiards. Busad Asiad bronze medalist Tshomlee Go meanwhile improved on his performance as he defeated a highly-fancied opponent from Taiwan to reach the finals, where he nailed the country’s second silver in the Asian Games.
right now, im anticipating Gabica’s match, hopefully he beats his Japanese opponent and finally make our country proud and land our first gold in the 15th Asiad.
which leads me to what i want to point out. how a country performs in international sporting competitions like the Asian Games usually reflects on the level of development its people has attained. this is different from the kind of development our officials are trying to picture to us, citizens, and most importantly to creditors.
it should not come as a surprise that we are barely in the top 20 of the medal standings in the ongoing Asian Games. we should stop rolling our eyes on our athletes, and expecting them to win gold when their best performances are way behind counterparts in China, Korea, Japan, Central Asian countries and even Thailand and Malaysia.
our sports infrastructure is very much behind Asian powers and even our Southeast Asian neigbors. Vietnam has catch up with us and probably better since their government INVESTS on their athletes. this is the root of our ho-hum performance on the world sports stage. our government invests in athletes that have already won or winning, but shun those who are losing but with enough investment and support can be winners themselves. our officials give all these sorts of fiscal rewards for medal winners, when basic support in terms of allowance and trainings abroad remains lacking. rewards are ok, they are expected, but more funding must be given to our athletes.
and this involves stamping out on corruption, with the government enforcing an iron hand on erring and corrupt sports officials who prioritize their junkets and other "personal expenses" than the trainings of athletes.
thus, let us be reminded to give our athletes only accolades, and leave the criticisms solely on our sports officials shoulders whenever we face a debacle like the one were having and hopefully will about to end in our campaign in the 15th Asian Games.
