EDITORIAL Golden girls

Medalists of the Philippine team in the just concluded Asian Games in Indonesia are getting much-deserved praises across the country. Naturally, the loudest plaudits go to those who brought home gold medals: weightlifter Hidylin Diaz, golfers Lois Kaye Go, Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso, as well as skatebaorder Margielyn Didal.

That’s four golds for the Philippines. In addition, the Philippine team bagged two silvers and 15 bronze medals, for a total of 21, putting the country at 19th place among the 46 states and territories from Asia and the Middle East that competed in the 18th Asiad, the largest sporting event in Asia that featured 40 sports and disciplines.

Placing 19th out of 46 isn’t too bad. Still, the Philippines’ medal haul was way below Indonesia’s 31 golds, 24 silvers and 43 bronzes, putting the host country at fourth place overall and ahead of the rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

China led the pack with 132 gold medals, 92 silvers and 65 bronzes. Second placer Japan bagged 75 golds, followed by South Korea with 49. Rounding out the top 10 were Uzbekistan, Iran, Taiwan, India, Kazakhstan and North Korea.

Among ASEAN, Thailand followed Indonesia at 12th place with 11 golds, 16 silvers and 46 bronzes. Malaysia was at 14th with seven golds, 13 silvers and 16 bronze medals. Vietnam and Singapore also bagged four golds each but had more silvers and bigger medal tallies than the Philippines. Cambodia placed 24th; Laos, 31st; and Myanmar tied with Afghanistan for 35th place with no gold or silver medals.

There was some grousing that certain teams reaped golds in events that were largely unheard of outside their countries. As long as the athletic events or disciplines were recognized by the Asiad organizers, however, the issue is beside the point. The athletes competed in officially listed events, and reaped honors for their countries or territories.

In fact the Philippines should borrow a page from the others’ playbooks and also pick sporting events familiar to Filipinos, where local athletes have a good chance of shining in international competitions. Sports officials can scout regularly for persons with athletic potential so they can be trained, preferably at a young age, to excel in their sport. The private sector has shown readiness to provide additional support for the country’s sports program.

Winning isn’t everything, but victory in sports is one of the biggest boosters of national pride. The country must be prepared to invest more time, effort and resources to produce winners.