POC chief Tolentino rallies Team Philippines in SEA Games

HANOI — No less than Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino called on Filipinos to continue cheering for Team Philippines, which is currently at third place halfway through the 31st Southeast Asian Games here.

“We are hoping and praying to maintain our momentum although we lost in some sports like tennis, golf and basketball 3X3, among others, which we had a good chance of winning gold,” said Tolentino, also who also heads PhilCycling.

“We need to recover [lost golds] and capture more golds from the other sports,” added Tolentino, who’s energy continued to surge as he tried his best to make the rounds in venues situated distant from each other to rally behind Filipino athletes. “We still have boxing, gymnastics, karate, athletics, basketball, weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling and other combat sports where we could win medals,” he added.

As of posting time, the Philippines has 20 golds, 27 silvers and 38 bronzes, which is good for third place behind host country Vietnam (67 golds, 46 silvers and 44 bronzes) and Thailand (27 golds, 24 silvers and 38 bronzes). At fourth place is Indonesia, which continue to threaten the Philippines with 20 golds.

Tokyo Olympian and two-time world champion Carlos Yulo led the gold medal rush for the country with five gold medals. Kim Mangrobang also made it a double with her victories in triathlon and duathlon that were staged within 24 hours apart.

Tolentino told the Filipino athletes who have yet to compete to never lose hope, saying “the whole nation is with them in this fight.”

“Never give up and continue to fight for our country,” he said.