PHILIPPINE Asian Games chef de mission Richard Gomez hopes the national athletes will be able to improve on the one-gold medal output of the country in the last edition of the quadrennial meet.
The Philippines won one gold courtesy of BMX rider Daniel Caluag in 2014 in Incheon, while adding three silvers and 11 bronzes.
“I am just hoping that we perform better than the last Asian Games,” said Gomez during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association.
Gomez, however, declined to predict or make a target on how many medals the Philippines will win in the 2018 edition in Indonesia.
“As an athlete, it’s difficult for me to come up with a forecast,” said Gomez, a former national fencer. “All I can say is that I only ask the athletes and myself to perform well. Mahirap magsabi na this coming Asian Games, we will be getting this much gold medals. Either sasabihin nila na mahina ka naman or mayabang ka naman.
“I encourage the athletes to perform, train well. Kung ano magiging resulta ng medal standing natin, we just have to take it as that,” Gomez said.
Gomez said there will be 274 Filipino athletes in the Asian Games, and that still includes the men’s basketball team which recently announced it is pulling out of the quadrennial showpiece.
Heading the list of athletes are Rio De Janeiro Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting, Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games gold medalist Meggie Ochoa of jiu-jitsu, and Caluag, who will look to defend the BMX crown.
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