Tough climb to top of SEA Games remains for Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines had much to celebrate on the 10th day of the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, but a difficult road remains for the country’s athletes in order to catch up to the medal tally leaders of the biennial tournament.

The Philippines entered Sunday, June 10, with only one gold medal that was attained by Claire Adorna the day before in the women’s triathlon competition, but the golds quickly added up with victories in men’s rugby 7s, men’s triathlon, women’s judo, men’s wushu taijijian, and men’s 9-ball pool doubles throughout the rest of the day. 

However as of now, the Philippines has 6 golds, 8 silvers, and 15 bronzes for 29 total medals – good for only 7th overall in the SEA Games standings.

(IN PHOTOS: All 6 Philippine gold medal wins at SEA Games…so far)

Host nation Singapore – 26 golds, 20 silvers, 37 bronzes – still leads all countries with Vietnam (21-8-20) right below at second place. Thailand (20-24-19) is at third with Indonesia (12-11-16) trailing at fourth. 

Malaysia (8-16-15) and Myanmar (7-10-8) round up the rest of the top 6.

History recalls that the Philippines finished 7th in the 2013 SEA Games held in Myanmar, which was the country’s worst ever performance in the Southeast Asian Games and yielded criticism from the nation towards The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC). The 2013 contingent brought home just 29 golds, 34 silvers, and 37 bronzes. 

“Sa nakikita ko naman medyo maganda ang preparation natin sa SEA Games na ito kasi since last year pa pinapahanda na natin. Siguro (Perhaps) it would be much better than last SEA Games at Myanmar,” SEA Games chief of mission for the Philippines Julian Camacho told Rappler a week ago.

Right now the Philippines looks in danger of coming home with the same result, but another triumphant day like Sunday could boost them up the standings, especially with Malaysia and Myanmar within close reach. 

The Philippines are contenders in both men’s basketball and women’s volleyball that begins days from now, and have an opportunity to claim more golds beginning Monday, June 8, with athletes already scheduled to compete in the semifinals of snooker, pool, tennis, boxing, and wushu competitions. 

Improving on their seventh-place finish from two years ago is more than possible. Climbing to the pinnacle, though, is a different story with already a wide gap separating the top medal-getters from the Philippines. 

It also doesn’t help that the three leaders in the standings will be involved in many semifinal contests beginning Monday, which makes it possible that their lead over the Philippines widens in 24 hours time.

– Rappler.com