Another sorry Asiad stint?

We have the best pound-for-pound professional boxer in the world. But in a regional amateur sportsfest, namely the recently concluded Asiad in Guangzhou, we only won one gold medal in boxing, thanks to Rey Saludar. So we wound up with 3 golds, 4 silvers and 9 bronzes — short of our 4-6-9 medal haul in Doha four years ago, and good only to have our country place 19th among 36 medal-winning nations out of the 45 member nations of the Olympic Council of Asia that runs the quadrennial Asiad. Our two other gold medals came from Engelberto Rivera in bowling and Dennis Orcullo in 9-ball billiards. Silver medals were delivered by Annie Albania in women’s boxing, Warren Kiamco in 9-ball billiards (unfortunately, he had to go up against Orcullo in the finals of the same event), Miguel Luis Tabuena in individual golf, and the Philippine men’s chess team composed of grandmasters Wesley So, Joey Antonio, John Paul Gomez, Eugene Torre and Darwin Laylo. Bronze medalists were the dancing pair of Ronnie Steeve Vergara and Charlea Lagaras (2), taekwondo jins Thsomlee Go, John Paul Lizardo, Kirstie Elaine Alora and Paul Romero, wushu’s Mark Eddiva, boxer Victorio Saludar, and bowler Frederick Ong in singles. Among Southeast Asian nations, our 188 Filipino athletes that competed ranked only fifth best after Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, a reconfirmation of its standing in the smaller league of the Southeast Asian Games last held in Laos in 2009. And there's really nothing much to cavil about, or point fingers to, since in the final analysis, it will all boil down to lack of a sufficient sports budget for our NSAs or National Sports associations. That will be the likely conclusion once Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco assesses the NSAs' reports he will receive at a sports summit on December 4. "The lessons are clear and we have to make the necessary and urgent adjustments when we return to our country if we are to remain as a country of note in sports," Chef de Mission Joey Romasanta was reported to have said. "I believe that any country with an efficient sports program is a stable nation," he added. Well, the color of the sky is blue, just as any motherhood statement can't easily be rejected. But it may be too sanguine to say, as our sports officials also did — that we must now plan to copy China’s blueprint for success. China has been too much as an individual nation even for the entire continent of Asia. Once again it dominated the 16th Asian Games, hauling a total of 198 gold, 119 silver and 98 bronze medals. But what can you expect from the most populous nation on earth, especially since it trains athletes from a young age, and turns them into world-beaters via consistent programs and a heavy dose of discipline? There has been criticism about how all their school kids are actually abused beyond manhandling. Now, we wouldn't want to copy that, would we? It can't also be argued that we should stop sending athletes in sports where we hardly stand a chance, such as, say, sepak takraw, diving, wrestling, archery, coordinated swimming — events that have ever been in a state of infancy in our sports venues. How else can we improve in those sports if we don't take a healthy beating now and then? In other sports where we expected to join medal play, we were simply unlucky. Efren "Bata" Reyes tumbled out in the very first round of his billiards event. Board 2 chessplayer Joey Antonio was struck down by a medical emergency on the eve of the finals against China (although his presence would at best have only shaved a point from the ensuing juggernaut). Marna Pabillore’s run in karate fell short of the medal round when she lost by the slimmest of margins, 0-1, in the repechage of the 55 kgs. class. And, of course, our Smart-Gilas developmental basketball team fell way short of expectation with a dismal sixth-place finish. Still a big question mark — as big as why there was absolutely no TV coverage of our Asiad participation — was the non-inclusion of our dragon boat racers. Our finest moments were certainly Saludar's finals triumph over a Chinese boxer, Rivera's gold in bowling (where we might have won more), and the Orcullo-Kiamco finals in billiards. But we should count in the chess team's two resounding victories over India, lifting PHL to the finals from its sixth-seed status. And for most Pinoys, the most unfortunate showing came from our cagers — amateurs and pros combined. While realistic reckoning of our chances in our favorite game continues to fall south, given the entry and increasing level of strong play by Mid-East quintets, to lose to Japan and South Korea can only emphasize our steady downfall from being the region's former lords of basketball. We won the first four editions of the Asiad in 1951, 1954, 1958 and 1962, but have gone zero-gold since. In contrast, China has won the gold medal in basketball seven times in the last nine editions of the Asiad, while South Korea holds the record for the most consecutive medals of any color at 12, never missing the medal round since 1962. Inclusion in the London Olympics of 2012 seems to be getting even more-fetched, even as a remote possibility. But should we give up on our PHL developmental team, soon beefed up by a naturalized center? Perhaps not, even as Ginebra coach Jong Uichico may have a point in saying that our collegiate stars that make up its nucleus still have a long way to go in maturing, and managing to compete, with "men." International competition calls, and so thus continued development. A stronger budget for sports will always help, as well as genuine leadership for all the sports we may excel in. And maybe we should hope that we at least get to see our athletes — and be entertained or suitably informed of their competitive skills or lack thereof — on our television screens. Make that inclusive of our top-class dragonboat racers. - GMANews.TV