Kinakailangan ng Pilipinas na makahablot ng mahigit sa 80 gintong medalya upang makamit ang inaasam na makaangat sa kinabagsakang pinakamababang puwesto sa nalalapit na paglahok sa ika-28 edisyon ng Southeast Asian Games sa Singapore sa Hunyo 5-16, 2015.
Ito ang naging pananaw ni Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Atty. Jose Luis Gomez sa paglahok ng pambansang delegasyon sa isinagawang 2014 Philippine Sports Year-end Assessment.
“If we look at last SEA Games, we have two gold in cycling while wala tayo sa shooting. That’s our wakeup call. We need to concentrate on medal rich sports na malaki ang chance manalo,” sinabi ni Gomez.
“Boxing, taekwondo, wushu, wrestling and judo, they’re all doing their job. They’re all doing exactly what they’re predicted to do. Other team sports can also deliver but it’s in those five sports that’s going to give us a hard time,” giit pa ni Gomez.
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Ipinaliwanag ni Gomez na isa sa dapat na pagtuunan ng pansin ay ang athletics at maging ang swimming. Gayunman, nararapat din na tumulong ang iba pang asosasyon upang mapaganda ang kampanya ng bansa.
“We really built athletics in a strong way. And what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to bring 16 athletes to the US to start training from January to May. They won’t compete anymore in the national open. There are so many races that are happening in the US from February, March and April. We’re looking at now in terms of the athletes. Last year we had seven golds in athletics. This year, the probable is at 12,” dagdag ni Gomez.
“We have Eric Cray (400m), Archand Bagsit (400 hurdles, 4x400m), Jesson Cid who is very promising in decathlon at 26-years old; Janrey Ubas at 20-years old had 6,500 points in decathlon that is a bronze medal standard. Baka makalusot pa iyan sa silver. It has never happened before, the Philippines has never dominated in decathlon.”
“Henry Dagmil in long jump, Ulboc in 3,000, EJ Obiena is now the highest performing SEA bet in pole vault. He won gold in the Asean University Games and a discovery on Caleb Stuart who is good in hammer throw and shotput. His personal records in college is SEAG standard,” ayon pa kay Gomez.
“We’re sure to win 9 gold medals if you add it all up. Aside from that, Marestella Torres is coming back. Guarte is coming back. Vertek is running a good marathon now and we want to send them to the US. So you have 3 more potential gold. Then I have this guy, Tyler Ruiz in high jump who’s doing well. There’s a Fil-am I just got, his name is Bryan Mercado. His mom is American while his dad is Pinoy. He’s running 10.5 in the 100m and there are 2 others that we’re looking out that can come in.”
“So in athletics, if we can win 12 gold medal, pwede na iyan. 12 of the 45 is good. That’s my forecast for athletics. It’s the only one that you can forecast because it’s measurable. But taking a look at the other sports that we have, look at archery. Gabby Moreno, Bianca Gotuaco, they’ve had enough international experience even though they’re young and they can now fight in recurve. Our compound is a medalist also. So we can get a few medals in archery.”
“In wushu, we have new athletes that we’re sending in China for Taolu. We’re going to send a stronger delegation in Taolu because Singapore removed all the Sanda events because they know we’re going to dominate it. So we’re depending on Taolu for wushu. Then we have Kiyome Watanabe in Judo who won the gold medal recently in the Asian Junior Judo championships.”
“So if we look at our medals, we have enough to equal or do better in the Myanmar, but to land in the top 3, you have to have at least 80 medals. We’re too far from it because we lose all the medals in the five sports. Aside from athletics, which I think we can get 12, if you can get 12 from swimming, gymnastics, shooting and cycling, buhay pa tayo. 2015 that’s what you expect,” sinabi pa ni Gomez.
