PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino is confident the delegation to the 32nd Southeast Asian Games will surpass the country's gold-medal haul from the Hanoi Games last year.
Team Philippines is currently in fifth place in the medal tally, one rung below its finish at the Hanoi SEA Games last year where the country's athletes collected 52 gold, 70 silver, and 104 bronze medals.
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Despite the dip in the ranking, Tolentino expects the Philippines to easily surpass the gold medal output in Hanoi, with still one day remaining in the competition.
As of posting time, Philippines has 47 gold medals, 73 silvers, and 90 bronzes.
“Definitely, we will surpass the 52 golds in Vietnam and we already surpassed the silver,” said Tolentino on Monday.
“In total, it is still a strong performance for Team Philippines,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino is counting on athletes in kickboxing, taekwondo, weightlifting, judo, wrestling, beach volleyball, dragon boat, and jetski to deliver the gold medals in the final days.
Tolentino said Team Philippines was able to be at-par with other Southeast Asian neighbors who are also improving.
“All athletes are improving. Pati mga kalaban natin sa ibang bansa, improving especially Cambodia,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino said he is not counting out the Philippines jumping to fourth in the final medal tally.
“’Yung Cambodia, parang wala ng pagkukunan. Pa-isa isa na lang except for sa wrestler na Iranian, judoka na Japanese," he said. “So definitely, it will be a strong performance for Team Philippines and the medal haul will speak for itself.”
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