THE 30th Southeast Asian Games formally opens in two weeks and this early, some of our sports leaders are looking at claiming the overall championship in the biennial meet.
In a recent coordination meeting by the Philippine Olympic Committee, POC president Bambol Tolentino came out with a prediction on gold medals that can be won. Maybe he should have explained that the number is what we are capable of producing and not an actual prediction. The range that came out was 130 to 180 golds, lower than the 220 golds coming from another sports official.
Win 220 and we are assured of the overall championship.
Two years ago, host Malaysia won only 145 golds to win the overall crown. Thailand was a far second at 72 golds. We were in sixth place with only 24 golds.
And the problem for me lies there.
I can never assure myself that we will win 220 golds, and please, I do want us to win the overall championship and regain the respect of our neighbors in the world of sports.
If they deliver the 220 or even the 180, I will rejoice with them as I will also be praying for and cheering on the team once the games begin but then I look at myself as foremost a trained management person and as such, I deal with realities and not with wishes.
The fact is in the last three stagings of the SEA Games, we have only averaged 27 golds. How can you convince me that we can win a maximum of 220, or even 180?
The fact that we are the host country and our athletes will be competing before a hometown crowd will definitely be a big factor. The number of athletes we are sending (1,115 to be exact) will again be a big factor. The little things that will give us that edge, the favorable groupings and the kind of events to be played.
Again these things will work in our favor but to say from 24 golds in 2017 to 180 or 220 golds this year, I will have problems accepting that as a realistic assessment.
It is good too that the Philippine Sports Commission has spent a lot of funds for the training of our athletes, that should be a big factor too but still I will maintain my position that winning 180 is a miracle.
I even posted ahead of time in my Facebook account and got several responses but practically unanimous in saying the predictions are far from what will happen, that there are no solid basis presented to support these numbers.
For one, this gives more pressure on our athletes to deliver and what if they fail simply because the opponents refuse to cooperate in allowing us to meet our prediction?
Do we believe that the other countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore have not trained for the coming SEA Games? Maybe they have even spent more than we have in the training of our athletes.
Yes, we do have some sports and athletes where we are either assured of gold or where we have better chances of striking gold like basketball, softball, baseball and elite athletes like weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, skateboarder Margielyn Didal, gymnast Carlos Yulo, boxers Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial. Other contact sports like taekwondo, karate, wushu and even track and field, maybe chess and billiards, triathlon and duathlon for sure, but taken altogether, I do not see them producing the high number being bandied about.
Can we double the average of 27, yes for sure, we can and we will. Can we triple it to around 80 golds? Yes, I believe we can. How about 100? I believe we can reach that number. 120? With some prayers, yes, but beyond that… sorry!
But in the end, I hope I will be wrong and I will be very happy to be proven wrong.
Good luck to all our athletes.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.