Sports Eye
Something is very wrong with our sports programs
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
WE send our best athletes to international competitions to earn accolade for our country and to show to the world that we deserve respect in the field of sports as our very own Manny Pacquiao did. We send our ‘cream of the crop’ to the Olympic Games, Asian Games and to the smallest games event in the continent, the Southeast Asia (SEA) Games at the expense of our taxpayer’s money.
Exactly a year ago, we captured the 2005 SEA Games overall championship for the first time since 1977, bagging 113 gold medals dislodging the region’s perennial winners Indonesia and Thailand and defending champion Vietnam. I doffed my hat and applauded our warriors.
But a few months after that memorable achievement, and the selection of our national teams started for the 2006 Doha Asian Games, bickering among some athletes began. They complained about the selection process in chess, billiards, bowling, boxing, cycling, and weightlifting, to name a few. And the worst case, as you already know, was basketball.
Of course, whatever the big bosses of our national sports associations recommended were respected by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), headed by Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco, it being our national sports governing body and the duly representative of our country as far as official international games are concerned.
Two months before the Doha Games, our sports leaders predicted we would win at least five golds. Perhaps that optimism was influenced by our athletes’ performance at the 2005 SEA Games, and they were wrong. They forgot that SEA Games is not Asian Games, that 2006 is not 2005, and that our athletes would be competing against the continental giants.
After a week of hostilities at Doha and sensing that we could not win the five golds, our sports top honchos consoled themselves by believing that we could at least beat our neighbors to retain our supremacy. But we did not. Instead Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore defeated us convincingly.
As of this writing (December 15), we are ranked 18th out of 45 countries. Our neighbor Thailand is fifth overall with 10 golds, 13 silvers and 24 bronzes. Malaysia is 11th and tiny Singapore is 16th. We are just ahead of Vietnam with only one gold separating us. In case Vietnam wins gold and we don’t, Vietnam will dislodge us because they have more silvers and bronzes.
And remember, we sent our athletes at Doha to win medals and not to break the national records just like what our cyclists did. Sure it was okay, but that’s not our goal. We can break our national records here, without spending more of taxpayer’s money.
Something is very wrong with our sports development. Our athletes are not only fully and properly trained but the program is often plagued with financial woes aggravated by corrupt sports leaders. I believe our athletes did their best but their best simply were not good enough. It’s time our sports czars confront the root of poor performance to avoid another humiliation.
SEA Games is one year away and we are the defending champion. But remember, we will no longer be the host in 2008 and it’s difficult to be the champion when you are not the host. The moral support of your countrymen is always a big factor. I should know because I was once an athlete, and a former member of the national team.
Thanks to Antonio Gabica, Violito Payla, Jean Tipon and Rene Catolan. Their performance still saved the nation from an ultimate humiliation. We still managed to surpass the three golds haul at the 2002 in Busan games but that’s not the point. We should have harvested at least seven golds.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/)
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