SO far, there’s nothing to be excited about in our Asian Games campaign going on in Nagoya, Japan.
Our experience with Gilas Pilipinas was traumatic. We landed at ninth place, our worst ever, a number that couldn’t get us to the knockout stage which deals with the first eight placers. Our players, not incidentally, are the defending champions!
READ Team PH adds bronze on slow Day 4 at Asiad
The embarrassment is total. The results show that basketball is really probably not in our DNA despite our insistence that it is. But we won last time, some will argue. Yes, some will argue back, but that was with a great import in the team.
Import gone, title gone.
Then our equally vaunted women’s volleyball team landed at ninth place, too. You have to wonder whether our current program is a mirage. Women’s volleyball has experienced a boom of unprecedented proportions. Thousands flock to the games, companies want their brands attached to teams. There’s a boom everywhere. Unfortunately, this does not translate to international glory. Volleyball remains a domestic phenomenon.
Bambol Tolentino, Philippine Olympic Committee president, is probably looking at the early results with real anxiety.
He has asked our athletes to double our Asian Games gold-medal haul from four in 2022 to eight in 2026. Last week, he sent off 464 of them to compete in 39 sports.
Well, there’s no need for Bambol to panic. Yet. The country’s top medal bets have yet to see action or are in action — among them, E J Obiena in pole vault, Alex Eala in tennis, the Yulo brothers, Carlos and Eldrew, in gymnastics, and several more in weightlifting, boxing and, we’re only guessing here, in Esports, where we have 19 athletes, or maybe in sepak takraw, where 21 players are entered.
We also guess that our sports officials’ mindset is probably the more athletes we send to compete, the more chances of us winning medals.
Time will tell.
But, wait, give it now to our mixed martial arts squad. Only three of them traveled to Japan and they came away with two medals: one, a silver medal; another, a bronze.
The POC and the Philippine Sports Commission got their money’s worth with that team. Maybe allowances for the basketball team should be reduced? Maybe give some of that to MMA’s Jean Claude Saclag, who grabbed the country’s first silver, and Carlos Alvarez, the bronze medalist. And also to the team’s third player, Gina Araos.
So far, the country has five medals, one silver and four bronzes. It is in 24th place among 45 nations participating.
Thailand leads SEA countries
Among Southeast Asian countries, Thailand leads the way with 10 medals, five of them gold. Malaysia is second with eight medals and three gold, Singapore has one gold among its five medals, while Myanmar has one gold, and the same number of silver and bronze. Vietnam also has one gold while Indonesia has no gold but 10 medals. Cambodia has four bronzes and Brunei one bronze.
Leading all nations is China with 40 gold medals, 14 silvers and 10 bronzes for a total of 64 medals.
Meantime, sports fans might do well to focus their attention to the Singapore Open and set aside the Asian Games for the moment.
On Thursday, Alex Eala will begin her campaign as the third seed. She has advanced to the Round of 16 and has gotten more boost than expected after the top guns withdrew with injuries.
Among them Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Janice Tjen, Diana Shnaider and a few more. That leaves Eala open at a shot for a second WTA 500 title.
In her path, however, is Mirra Andreeva, world No. 5 and the tournament’s top seed.
This tournament is expected to be Eala’s preparation for the Asian Games’ tennis tournament which starts on September 27 where she is entered in singles and mixed doubles.
Hopefully she does well and bring a good run to the Asian Games.
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