From nine down to four

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

THIS year’s Southeast Asia (SEA) Games is just around the corner.

Compared to the first and second times we hosted this biennial meet, the third time, which was held again in Manila in December 2005, was a very different story.

In our third time as host, despite the fact that we were not able to participate in the basketball event due to our suspension by the world governing body FIBA, we garnered 110 gold medals. And for the first time we defeated the ten other countries in the region to capture the overall title from defending champion Vietnam.

Two thumbs up for our sports gladiators. I know they did their utmost not to be humiliated anew in their own turf to the delight of our countrymen sports aficionados.

 Two of those 110 gold medals our Filipino athletes bagged were from cycling. And out of the 22 cyclists that donned our national colors, ten were from Pangasinan. And in fact two of our kababayan riders snatched those two golds in the persons of Alfie Catalan from San Manuel in the velodrome race, and Marites Bitbit from Malasiqui in the mountain bike event. Their triumphs were real proofs that this two-wheeled sport is Pangasinan’s best, most prestigious and premier discipline, then and even until now.

The nine Pangasinan pedal-pushers who participated in the 2005 SEA Games were Arnel Quirimit and Nilo Estayo from Pozorrubio, Ericson Obosa from Manaoag, Reynaldo Navarro from San Jacinto, Renato Sembrano from Mangaldan, Enrique Domingo from San Carlos City, Santy Barnachea from Umingan, Catalan and Bitbit.

Aside from cycling, muay-thai martial art player Viktoria Agbayani also won gold. Other than them, I don’t know of any more names from Pangasinan who carried our national flag. And I’m not also aware if Agbayani will again join the national squad in the coming 2007 SEA Games slated on December 6-16 in Thailand.

And according to my reliable source in cycling, only four instead of five of our kabaleyans have been selected this time to represent our country in Thailand. They are Bitbit, Catalan, Estayo and the new recruit Mark Julius Bonzo from Sual who is the son of the late 1983 Marlboro Tour king Romeo Bonzo.

2007 Padyak Pinoy first runner-up Baler Ravina from Asingan was also recruited after the big race but eventually gave up during their intensive and strenuous training. In short, he’s not a nationalistic Filipino. Or maybe there are some reasons that I’m not aware of.

What happened to the others?

Quirimit has migrated to Italy. Domingo, Barnachea and Navarro have been dropped due to their age-37, 34 and 33, respectively. Sembrano and Obosa were expelled-for reasons beyond my knowledge.

The big question is, can we retain our supremacy come December 6-16?

Your guess is as good as mine. We are not like the Americans, Russians or the Chinese who can dominate sports even when not playing in their own soils. There’s no substitute to playing in a climate and terrain you are familiar with. It counts a lot. I’m a sportsman so I know that because it happened to me during my cycling heydays.

But let’s wait and see ika nga. We can guess but mahirap magsalita ng patapos as the saying goes.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/)

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