POC chief predicts Philippine will be No. 1

MANILA, Philippines — If the Philippines can’t be No. 1 in this year’s SEA Games, then the host country can settle for No. 2.

“If not one then two. But we’ll be number one,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino yesterday, barely four days before the formal opening.

Action had kicked off in various fronts since last Sunday although the first gold medal won’t be disputed until Dec. 1 either in cycling or triathlon.

Officials of the different NSAs (national sports associations) have predicted a mind-boggling haul of 220 gold medals for Pinoy athletes out of the 530 to be disputed.

But it sounds too good to be true.

Tolentino had a more conservative estimate of 120 to 130 gold medals for the 1,084 Filipino athletes who will compete in all 56 sports on tap.

“If we can win two gold medals in each sport then we’re close to 120,” said the congressman from Tagaytay and cycling chief of what he referred to as simple mathematics.

But the most logical explanation, he said, is that if there are sports that cannot deliver the gold, there are others that can win more than two.

“You think gymnastics can only win two? Or athletics? Or boxing? Or arnis? If athletics alone can win six gold medals then well and good,” he said during the PSA Forum at Amelie Hotel in Manila.

“We can be number one again,” added Tolentino, referring to the “Miracle of 2005” when the Philippines, as host, won the overall championship wth 112 gold medals out of 443 in 40 sports.

In the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines landed a poor sixth with a medal haul of 24-33-64, way behind overall champion Malaysia (145-92-86).

“We have the homecourt advantage,” Tolentino said.

That remains to be seen.