Sports Eye
Disappointed Gilas five
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
THE talk of sports now in the country is the disappointing performance of our national squad “Gilas Pilipinas” in the just concluded Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) hosted by the Philippines. We watched how our contingent succumbed to the bigger and faster Frenchmen and the Kiwis, to whom they lost their two games by nine points, 93-84 and 89-80, respectively. We saw how hard and how determined our quintet tried to win them all, to score major upsets especially with the world’s fifth ranked, France. Their best was not good enough. Not even the presence of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and the home crowd helped. The loss by our Nationals disqualified our basketball squad from participating in the coming Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in Brazil next month. The last time the Philippine five participated in the biennial meet was the memorable 1972 Munich Games bannered by Jimmy Mariano, William Adornado, Manny Paner, Danny Florencio, Rosalio Martirez, Freddie Webb to name some, where we landed 13th out of 16 countries won by the Russians by just one point, 51-50, over the heavily favored U.S. And from that year on, no PH team ever made past the qualifying tourney. Why? Your answer is also like mine. This “height is might” sport is not really our game for obvious reasons. Our genes don’t make us tall enough! So we are better off shifting to football. The ball is on the green and not on the blue.
While we won the bid to be one of the three venues of this year’s OQT obviously to make our home crowd boost our quintet, but unfortunately, it didn’t make a difference. The feared result was the same, like in the past.
Let’s wait for another four years and with God’s help we might be lucky in 2020 Tokyo Games.
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It’s sad to know from one of the officers of Mangaldan Sports Commission that my town’s inter-barangay basketball tourney was discontinued (so far) for lack of funds. I wonder why the organizers headed by flamboyant PJ Samson planned it when everything was not in order. It’s really absurd and sans raison d’ etre. According to one of the coaches involved in this tournament, the sudden cancellation left players very frustrated. This kind of planning by Samson should no longer be allowed because it hurts sports development. It’s senseless ‘ika nga.
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My heartfelt gratitude to San Fabian town executive Constante Agbayani for backing up the bikefest held last July 3 that started and ended in his town, and won by Manaoag son Ericson Obosa. (See related story on this page) And thanks also to the PNP stations and barangay tanods in Damortis and Rosario in La Union, Sison, Pozorrubio, San Jacinto and the San Fabian. Of course, thanks first and foremost our Almighty God. The 120-kilometer road saga was conducted successfully without any untoward incident. To God be the glory.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And Jesus Christ said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law and Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” MATTHEW 5: 17-18
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