Sports Eye
Pangasinan sports’ pride
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
OUR cyclist-rich province sent its three elite riders to Indonesia to compete in the Tour de Singkarak slated June 1-6. Sponsored by 7-Eleven Convenient Stores, the three, namely: Baler Ravina of Asingan, Sherwin Carrera of San Fabian and Ericson Obosa of Manaoag, are joined by 2009 Padyak Pinoy champion Joel Calderon of Guimba, Nueva Ecija and upcoming Tarlac City ace Daniel Asto to compose the five-man RP national squad. The five are battling 104 well-known riders in the world, including aces from the Netherlands, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore, plus 56 others from the host country Indonesia.
The Singkarak race, aside from providing our national cyclists a venue to sharpen their skills in international competitions, will also give them the necessary points to qualify in the 2012 London Olympic Games or world championships slated next year. It will be a good tune-up race too for the nationals for the coming Guangzhou Asian Games in December. That is if the feud of our national cycling leaders is patched-up before the quadrennial meet.
As of this writing (Friday), after the third stage, the RP squad is in 12th position out of 22 teams in the general classification.
Yearly our national road players are sent abroad to test their mettle against some of the best in the world. The best performance that our local boys achieved was during the 2008 Tour of Indonesia when the Jazy Sportswear-Beacon Team Philippines placed third. The five-man all-Pangasinan squad was composed of Obosa, Carrera, Quirimit, Irish Valenzuela and Renato Sembrano. Their second best team finish with the same members was fifth during the 2008 Tour de East Java.
We have a number of national squad members who are on stand-by for international tilts. They are Arnel Quirimit of Pozorrubio, Mark Julius Bonzo of Sual, Renato Sembrano of Mangaldan, Irish Valenzuela of Mapandan, Merculio Ramos, Jr. of Binalonan, Alfie Catalan of San Manuel and Maritis Bitbit of Malasiqui on the distaff side. Sending the three to the Singkarat race is yet another proof that this two-wheeled sport is undoubtedly the pride of Pangasinan.
Records show that no other Pangasinan athlete who participated in any Asian competition sanctioned by the world governing body International Olympic Committee (IOC) ever won a medal except in cycling. Those who have brought us honors include the late Edgardo Pagarigan of Bugallon and Arnel Quirimit, both silver medalists in Asian Cycling Championships in 1983 and 2001, respectively. In the case of Rogelio Onofre who bagged the bronze medal in the 100-meter track event during the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games, he really is not a homegrown talent because he was born in Tarlac City and had his college education in Dagupan City. He’s not a true-blue Pangasinense.
In boxing, yes, I’m proud to say we already produced a world champion (which few Pangasinenses know) and that’s the late Roberto Cruz from Bugallon, the former World Boxing Association junior welterweight titlist in 1965.
In the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG), we had some gold medalists, including in cycling events. But SEAG is composed of only 11 countries participating and the smallest meet being sanctioned by IOC. Asia is very different. Remember, it’s the largest continent in the world with powerhouse China, Japan and South Korea as the dominant countries in Asian tilts. China for the first time was the new overall champion during the 2008 Olympic Games, dislodging perennial winner United States..
If you know of other homegrown athletes aside from our cyclists who won a gold medal in any Asian meet sanctioned by IOC, please let me know and show me proof. I’m ready to say I was wrong if there is solid evidence.
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