Dismay in Incheon

Gilas coach Chot Reyes took the brunt of the nation’s disappointment over the Philippines’ dismal finish at the recent Asian Games in Incheon because of widespread expectations that the national basketball team would bring home the gold medal.

Gilas would’ve probably claimed the gold if only Andray Blatche played but someone goofed in interpreting a new Asian Games eligibility rule disallowing transplanted citizens to play without a three-year residency. Not even FIBA could persuade the Incheon organizers to buy the argument that if Blatche can play at the World Cup, why not at the Asian Games?

The other day, Reyes said his wife Cherry received texts from friends wondering if it’s true that he’d committed suicide. “I knew the risks of the job,” he said. “I was aware I could be crucified if things didn’t work out. There will always be haters. At least, now I know who my real friends are, the ones who stood by me. This journey was truly historic. We won our first Jones Cup in 14 years with the first Filipino coach to do it. We took the silver at the FIBA Asia Championships last year, our best finish in 27 years. We played at the World Cup for the first time in 36 years, we won our first World Cup game in 40 years and we had our worst finish at the Asian Games so that was historic, too.”

Regarding the suicide rumor, Reyes said, “There’s a text going around that I’ve committed suicide but survived, want to assure everyone it’s not true … life is good!”

If Gilas had a way out because of Blatche’s absence, there was absolutely no excuse for how the entire Philippine delegation of 159 athletes in 25 sports performed. To be sure, the athletes aren’t to blame just as the Gilas players aren’t at fault. They did their best under the circumstances. But things must change for the Philippines to break out of the doldrums of defeat. There are serious leadership, training, rule-interpreting, coaching, infrastructure, occupational and financial issues. Things can’t remain as they are unless the order of the day is to stagnate.

In Incheon, the Philippines collected a total of 15 medals, the leanest harvest in 20 years or since a haul of 13 at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games. The medal breakdown was a gold from BMX cycling, three silvers (one from boxing and two from wushu) and 11 bronzes (five from taekwondo, three from boxing and one each from archery, wushu and karate). In terms of most medals, taekwondo delivered five, boxing four and wushu three.

Eight sports had at least 15 gold medals at stake – athletics 47, shooting 44, swimming 38, wrestling 20, taekwondo and judo 16 each and wushu and weightlifting 15 each. The Philippines couldn’t snag a single medal from the four sports that had the most gold medals up for grabs.

Three Filipino swimmers, including Olympians Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi, couldn’t even advance beyond the heats. Two Filipino wrestlers never made it to the semifinals and only one reached the quarters. Two-time Olympian Marestella Torres was disqualified in long jump after she couldn’t take off without stepping on the line in three exasperating attempts, a disappointing development considering her long years as a competitor. Two Filipino shooters Eric Ang and Hagen Topacio couldn’t crack the qualifiers, winding up 37th and 28th. In weightlifting, Nestor Colonia failed in three trips to snatch and bombed out. Two Filipino judokas posted a win and two losses with Kiyoma Watanabe exiting in the quarters.

In triathlon, the best finishes were seventh for women and 10th for men among four contestants. Golf, bowling and tennis laid big, fat eggs. The best finish in men’s individual golf was 18th and it was 11th for women. In team play, it was fifth for women and ninth for men. Bowling suffered a glaring shutout with 18th the best finish among six males and 15th among six females. The doubles and trios in both men and women didn’t figure in the top 10. In tennis, only the men’s doubles team of Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales went as far as the quarterfinals.

The Blu Girls blasted Thailand, 13-0, in their only win to finish fourth of six after losing to South Korea, 3-1, Japan, 10-2, China, 8-2 and Chinese-Taipei, 5-4, in softball. The Volcanoes ended up fifth after beating China, 28-21, in rugby sevens. The consolation was both teams ended up on a winning note. But not a single team sport produced a medal for the Philippines, a clue for sports officials on formulating a battle plan for the future. The Philippines’ 15 medals came from individual events.

BMX cyclist Danny Caluag was the only gold medalist for the Philippines and no Filipino agency can claim credit for his development. A Fil-Am, born and raised in the US, saved the day for the country in Incheon without the benefit of Filipino training or coaching. In 17 Asian Games, the Philippines has captured only one gold medal in four editions in 1970, 1990, 1998 and now. In the last three Asian Games, the Philippines took three gold medals in 2002, four in 2006 and three in 2010 so the Incheon haul was the worst in 12 years.

The Philippines ranked No. 22 of 45 nations. Only 17 countries didn’t bag a gold medal and only eight didn’t go to the podium. The countries with a single gold medal like the Philippines were Vietnam, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Cambodia – a company of mediocre performers. In the Southeast Asian honor roll, the Philippines was seventh behind Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. At the Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar last year, the Philippines took seventh place in the medal totem pole. It appears that the only Southeast Asian countries that the Philippines is able to outshine are Laos, Cambodia, Timor Leste and Brunei.

If the Philippines isn’t careful, Cambodia may soon move up the ladder. Cambodia took its first-ever Asian Games gold medal in Incheon through women’s taekwondo middleweight Sorn Seavmey who’s only 17.