Heart for sports

At least two Cebuanos are among the gold medalists in the recently-concluded 26th Southeast Asian Games.

Renee John Mier won a gold medal in cycling and Dondon Sombrio, who is one of the coaches of the Cebu Archery Club, won a gold medal in the team event.

I read about Mier’s triumph on the papers, but learned about Sombrio’s victory only yesterday morning from Gordon ‘Dondi’ Joseph, who is one of the supporters of archery in Cebu.

I was also happy to know that 15-year-old Kiyome Watanabe, who was born in Cebu City and moved to Japan when she was 7, won a bronze medal in women’s judo. She was a late addition to the Philippine team.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV wants an inquiry into the failure of the country to win as many gold medals as it hoped in the SEA Games. I suggest that the senator drop that thought and think of something else more useful to do.

As I wrote yesterday, we don’t need any more politicians trying their hand in sports. If these politicians have something positive to contribute, then we support that. But if they only have personal gains in mind, they better leave sports alone.

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As it is, there is much that can be done to improve Philippine sports. For many years, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has been trying several formulas hoping to give the country its first Olympic gold medal.

To achieve that, we have to work on the smaller SEA Games first where our athletes pit their skills against our ASEAN neighbors.

The next step is the Asian Games where we face the best of the continent.

With programs being changed very often, how can we reach our goal?

Developing athletes cannot be done overnight. It cannot be done by plucking those with Filipino blood from other countries. It cannot be done by allowing too much politics in the sports organizations.

Developing championship caliber athletes takes years and a lot of focus. Since it is a fact that we don’t have a lot of resources for this, the more it is important for our sports leaders to put their acts together and not waste what little we have.

Without having to get the Senate to tell you, maybe the sports leaders, who have allowed personal interest to prevail, can just step down from their positions and give them to those who really have a heart for the sport.

You know who you are.

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MILESTONES: Today I remember my grandmother Paz Frasco Quiñones, who would have turned 94 today. I miss my lola a lot.

Birthday greetings go to business editor Joefel Ortega-Banzon, Melizande Catherine Yap-Wee, Larie Ann Mendoza, Tessa Bañez, Maria Fe Binoya, Joy Cañon, and Victor Guerra.

Advance greetings go to my cousins Shena Quiñones and Atty. Clarence Trocio, Kai Tautjo, Erniebeth Torrano, and my golfing partner Abdul Rafi Lomondaya.

More power to all of you!