NAKHON RATCHASIMA,Thailand – With only a gold to show after the last events in diving, the Philippines formalized its dive to sixth overall in the biggest debacle by a Philippine contingent in the SEAG since 1977.
Rexel Fabriga and Jaime Asok provided the 41st and last gold for the Philippines as the mixed and men’s doubles teams bowed to Thailand in the finals of the lawn tennis competitions on the last day at the Main Stadium here.
The 41 gold medals were a big turnaround from the 113 the Philippines won in taking the overall championships in Manila as host of the 2005 SEA Games.
It was also the second worst after its fifth place finish in 1989, 1999 and 2001 when Vietnam, now a major power, was a minor participant with a token representation.
Thailand, which predicted 156 gold medals, had 183, the second biggest since Indonesia won 194 as host in the 1997 Jakarta Games.
It was also the second biggest for Thailand as host since the 1995 Chiang Mai Games where it won 91 gold medals.
Malaysia also finished true to its projections of over 60 gold medals, finishing with 67 to finish second overall. It moved past Vietnam with its last wins in diving.
Vietnam, which came here aiming for 60-70 gold medals, also fulfilled its target, landing 64 golds to finish third.
Indonesia, champion in nine of the last 15 SEA Games, had a decent 56 for fourth while Singapore this time took the measure of the Philippines, claiming 43 golds to edge the Philippines in the battle for fifth.
The Philippines came here vowing to win 100 gold medals but failed to reach even one half of it.
The Philippines was shut out in regional sports, which offered 58 gold medals, found some of its pet sports scrapped by organizers, and failed miserably in many sports it was expected to dominate, particularly in events the athletes dominated back in Manila.
The bowling team fired its top masters bowlers a week before the Games and got only one silver in 11 events. Bowling president Steve Hontiveros said coaches and staff will have to turn in their resignation if the team fails to win a gold.
With the absence of world champions Django Bustamante, Efren “Bata” Reyes and Alex Pagulayan, the cue artists here conceded the gold to less talented rivals, and only the men’s team in 9-ball doubles, Ronnie Alcano in 8-ball singles and women’s bet Rubilen Amit in 9-ball singles saved what could have been a disgraceful stint in the sport.
The baseball team fell to Thailand, the mixed doubles team of Kennevic and Kennie Asuncion dropped out of the quarterfinals, while the rowers, who swept their side of the event in Manila, had only two silvers.
The Fil-American pair of Heidi Ilustre and Diane Pascua, so with the tandem of Michelle Laborte and Michelle Carolino, did not reach the semifinals in beach volleyball.
Questionable officiating gave the hosts 16 of the 17 gold medals in boxing, while the hosts ruled sailing, yachting and rowing events with their familiarity with the waters of Pattaya.
In other sports, the opposition was simply overpowering.
In diving, Malaysia took the overall championship with seven gold medals, with the Philippines gaining two and Indonesia one.
The Vietnamese became the new SEA Games champion in wushu, a sport always dominated by the Philippines, thanks to their two-year continuous training in China. The Vietnamese themselves finished second overall to China in the 2005 World Wushu Championships and third overall behind China and Macau this year.
Injuries hit Eduardo Buenavista and the top stars of GTK’s Army in athletics, and in their place, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia ran the show in athletics. Indonesia, the great champion of nine SEA Games and a power no more, returned to reclaim its lost glory in archery.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand had devised a training program that placed their athletes at world-class level, and relegated the Philippines to consolation silvers and bronzes in karate-do, judo and taekwondo.
Thailand used to the maximum its homecourt advantage. It dominated yachting, sailing and windsurfing, canoeing and rowing in Pattaya and the shooting range outside Bangkok and a golf course virtually unknown to Filipinos.
It increased the gold medal events in these sports and was the biggest beneficiary.
Thailand sent its world-class boxers to fight the Philippines’ Class B fighters and won 16 of 17 gold medals. The boxing association saw it otherwise. They complained about rampant cheating, biased officiating that favored the hosts in the women’s finals and yielded 14 golds in all. The Filipinos won six of the 14 gold medals in Manila in 2005.
Thailand was an Asian power in shooting during the last two decades and, even before the SEA Games could formally start, it won 14 gold medals to jumpstart its title campaign.
Partly, incentives kept the champion’s spirit burning elsewhere outside the Philippines.
Thailand offered 200,000 baht ($5,000) for every gold and every member of the team that wins the gold. Indonesia offers $20,000 for every gold and a house and lot for every three golds.
The Philippines offers P100,000 for every gold and President Arroyo had announced a bonus on top of the mandated incentive for every gold-silver-bronze medal won.
Vietnam had fewer incentives and had little training abroad because of budget constraints. But athletes from this former communist country have a strong sense of discipline which carried them through the tough competitions, unruffled by bad officiating, homecourt advantage and incentives other athletes kept yapping about.