Improved finish for PHL at Asian Games
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter
THE Philippines had a tough campaign at the just-concluded 18th Asian Games in Indonesia but in the end it did not stop the Filipino contingent from improving on its previous showing in the quadrennial continental sporting event.
When the curtain fell on the Asian Games, held in Jakarta and Palembang, on Sunday, the Philippines stood at 19th place out of 45 countries which competed, finishing with four gold, two silver and 15 bronze medals.
It was an improvement from the 22nd-place finish the country had in 2014 at the Incheon Games, with one gold medal to show far, and the best total medal haul for the Philippines since Busan in 2002 when the country had 26 total medals.
Broken down, the Philippine medals came from golf (two gold and a bronze), skateboard (one gold), weightlifting (one gold), boxing (one silver and two bronzes), judo (one silver), pencak silat (four bronzes), taekwondo (three bronzes), wushu (two bronzes), cycling BMX (one bronze), ju-jitsu (one bronze) and karate (one bronze).
“The athletes can stand proud on the medal stand. We have really improved our medal tally from one gold, three silvers and 11 bronze medals [in 2014]. We’ve done better,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Ricky Vargas in making his assessment of Team Philippines’ performance as its campaign in Indonesia wound up at the weekend.
“The athletes really carried us, which is why they really need all the support they can get. They are the most important part of the equation in all of these,” he added.
WOMEN ATHLETES
In Indonesia, Philippine women athletes had great success, accounting for 13 of the country’s 21 total medal haul, including all four gold medals, in the two-week sporting meet.
The first Filipinas to deliver for the Philippines was the women’s taekwondo poomsae team of Juvenile Faye Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto, and Janna Dominique Oliva which won bronze on Aug. 19, followed by wushu’s Agatha Wong in the women’s taijiquan and taijijian all-around event and taekwondo jin Pauline Lopez in the -57kg event on Aug. 20 and 21, respectively.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz then broke through to get the country’s first gold medal on Aug. 21, coming from behind to snatch the top spot in the women’s 53 kg weightlifting event.
Her efforts were followed up on by wushu’s Divine Wally, who chalked up a bronze in the -52kg sanda event on Aug. 22 and Ju-jitsu’s Meggie Ochoa with bronze in the women’s 49kg event on Aug. 24.
On Aug. 26, the Philippine women’s golf team helped made it the best day for the Philippines at the Asian Games to date, running away with the top individual and team honors.
Filipino-Japanese golfer Yuka Saso made an impressive Games debut by winning gold in the women’s competition with teammate Bianca Pagdanganan getting the bronze.
Misses Saso and Pagdanganan’s podium finishes towed the Philippine golfing team, which also included Louis Kay Go, to bag the team gold medal.
Pencak silat Cherry Mae Regalado and karate’s Junna Tsukii threw in their share of bronze on Aug. 27.
Skateboarder Margielyn Didal and female judoka Kiyomi Watanabe were the last Philippine female athletes to have a podium finish, winning gold and silver in their respective events on Aug. 29 and 30.
The strong showing of the Filipino female athletes in the Games was hailed by Mr. Vargas.
“The women in sports are really giving us so much pride. So we should really look at parity and bring in more (of them) in sports. They have proven that they can win,” Mr. Vargas said.
SILVER FINISH
Boxer Rogen Ladon, meanwhile, was the last man standing from the eight-boxer team of the Philippines, and was able to get a silver medal.
Mr. Ladon was on track for a gold medal until a head-butt from opponent Jasurbek Latipov of Uzbekistan in their gold medal match on Sept. 1 derailed his quest, forcing him to settle for silver.
Absorbing an ugly wound on his right eyebrow that oozed with blood following the head-butt, the ring doctor was forced to stop the fight 22 seconds into the second round.
Moments later, the match was sent to the judges’ scorecards which yielded in favor of Mr. Latipov, 3-1.
Mr. Ladon said he was very disappointment of the result, believing he was doing well until the head-butt, which he claimed to be suspicious in nature.
“It’s a big disappointment. It’s a major disappointment. Not only me, but the entire country aspired for the gold medal,” said Mr. Ladon after the medal awarding ceremonies.
Other medal winners for the Philippines were the taekwondo men’s poomsae team of Dustin Mella, Jeordan Dominguez and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. (bronze), boxers Carlo Paalam and Eumir Felix Marcial (bronze), BMX cyclist Daniel Caluag (bronze), pencack silat’s Jefferson Loon, Dines Dumaan and Almohaidib Abad (bronze).
In Indonesia, the Philippines also competed in archery, athletics, basketball, bridge, canoeing, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, jet ski, kurash, sailing, softball, sepak takraw, shooting, soft tennis, sport climbing, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, and wrestling.
Moving forward, POC’s Vargas reiterated the need for all local stakeholders to get their act together and create a conducive environment where Filipino athletes can get support that they need to train well to improve their performance for future events.
