Not best nor worst for RP

KUALA LUMPUR (Via Globe Telecoms) – Sports leaders are setting their sights on next year’s Asian Games and the 2005 Southeast Asian Games as the nation tries to preserve the gains and reflect on the losses that came its way in the 21st SEA Games here.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos "Butch" Tuason said the biennial competitions here should prompt a thorough study of ways to overcome failures particularly in subjective sports where the Philippines missed the gold to Malaysia and Indonesia as the country resumes preparations for the 2003 and 2005 SEA Games.

"Overall, I’m happy with the performance of our athletes, though I am unhappy with the placing (fifth overall) and the number of gold medals we have won," said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos "Butch" Tuason after the Philippines’ 30-66-66 gold-silver-bronze medal finish in the Kuala Lumpur Games.

On the eve of the Philippine contingent’s departure for Manila, Tuason said there is a need to study what sports the Philippines failed in and establish a policy it could follow to produce better results in the future.

"There is no use crying over spilled milk. When we get back to Manila, I will not ask the national sports association presidents what went wrong, but what they could do to improve their performance," said Tuason.

Tuason said he will prepare a study he will submit to Malacañang and Congress as a basis for their analysis on the condition of Philippine sports following the Kuala Lumpur experience.

The Philippine Sports Commission, the main source of funds for the country’s participation here, cannot interfere in the affairs and administration of sports although it consults with NSAs on how they could best make use of government.

Tuason reiterated a PSC move to regionalize sports by providing training for selected sports like boxing, swimming and athletics on the grassroots level.

"We cannot regionalize all sports because of the cost of equipment and personnel, but we can prioritize them, like Vietnam which has concentrated only in eight sports for the SEA Games," he said.

Among the 28 sports disciplines that were played in Kuala Lumpur, only athletics, wushu, taekwondo, karatedo and bowling produced at least two gold medals.

Judo and pencak silat, which promised seven gold medals each had a big zero. The Philippines could have overtaken Vietnam on the last day if the two sports delivered at least three gold medals.

Big disappointments came in cycling, equestrian, weighlifting and karatedo, whose leaders were preoccupied with internal squabblings which remained unresolved till today.

The basketball association came home with the gold, but with its image tarnished by the longest leadership intramural that started eight months ago and there is doubt whether the country will be ready to prepare a winning team for next year’s Asian Games.

Tuason also reiterated the need to concentrate on just 15 sports that have the best gold medal chances. There is now a move to reduce or deny government assistance to such non-performing sports as table tennis, badminton, rowing, yachting, water polo, men’s volleyball, traditional boat racing, pencak silat and squash and increase government subsidy for the training of athletes in archery, athletics, boxing, gymnastics, judo, karatedo, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, tenpin bowling, and wushu.

The Philippines’ 30-gold medal harvest, 10 better than the 1999 SEA Games, is the second lowest in terms of percentages since the country participated in the 1977 SEA Games.

The Philippines was sixth with 14 of 190 golds (seven percent) in 1977, sixth with 26 of 227 (six percent) in 1979, third (55-255 or 22 percent) in the 1981 Manila Games, fourth (49-234 or 20 percent) in 1983, third (43-234 or 18 percent) in 1985, third (59-234 or 25 percent) in 1987, fifth (26-303 or eight percent) in 1989, second (91-328 or 27 percent) in the Manila Games in 1991, third (57-319 or 17 percent) in 1993, third (33-338 or nine percent) in 1995, fourth (43-448 or nine percent) in 1997, and fifth (20-233 or eight percent) in 1999.

The Philippines sent 364 athletes of which 30 won the gold, 66 the silver and 67 the bronze. The triple gold medallist was Leonardo "Botchok" Rey in bowling while the double gold medallist was Eduardo Buenavista in athletics.

Tuason and POC president Celso Dayrit said most of the 66 Filipino silver medallists missed the gold in subjective sports like karatedo, gymnastics, cycling, diving, judo, karatedo, pencak silat, boxing, silat ohlaraga, taekwondo and wushu.

"We cannot accept that the three-gold medal advantage of Vietnam is worth more than the 97 gold and near-gold of the Filipino athletes. We were fighting for the gold three times more than the Vietnamese in more sports and in more events," Dayrit said.

"We stand by our athletes who have sacrificed so much and fought bravely for the honor of our country. We just hope that our people will reciprocate with kind understanding and appreciation. We will come back fighting," he added.

Caltex Philippines, which sponsored the boxing team that failed to win the gold, also reiterated its support of the national boxers.

"Our boys have done their best and Caltex Philippines remains proud to have assisted in their training and participation in various world-renowned international competitions the past years,"said Nicolas Florio, Caltex country chairman. "It is unfortunate that winning the gold eluded our Philippine boxing team."

"Despite narrowly missing out on the gold medals, we remain proud of our boxers for having brought in the golds, silvers and bronzes from world competitions that ABAP, Caltex and the Philippine government have sent them in 2001," he added.

"We remain committed to the continued support of amateur sports in the country and we take this opportunity to thank everyone who has given our boxers support, training and encouragement," he said.