EDITORIAL - What is happening to PHL sports?

The Philippines remains struggling to find its mark in international sporting competitions. Three days before the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia comes to a close, the country remains at sixth place of the 11 competing countries with a haul of only 20 gold medals.

Many may find the Philippine gold medal output in the ongoing sports festival unbelievable. For a country of almost 100 million inhabitants, the country should have been a top contender in the biennial meet.

The last time the Philippine reigned supreme was when it hosted the 2005 SEA Games. But it happened 14 years after the country placed second to Indonesia in the 1991 edition, which Manila hosted.

Aside from those two successful campaigns, the Philippines suffered many setbacks in the more than three decades that it is competing in SEA Games. Now it even lost its competitive advantage over other countries which used to be sidelined way below the country in the medal tally but are now giving the Filipino athletes a run for their money.

What is happening to the Philippine sports? Who is to blame for its rapid decline? Is there any way to bring back the past glory of the Filipino athletes who used to dominate the international competitions in the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s?

Well, we do not need to look into the sky for the answer. Just a tour around public sports facilities nowadays would tell us that the state of Philippine sports is badly damaged. A no-nonsense repair must be needed.     

It is already a known fact that some of the country’s sports officials cannot go along with each other. For example, a single sport is governed by many factions competing for supremacy and legitimacy, leaving the need to properly train the athletes unattended.

Besides, the government came short of providing enough support to the athletes. Aside from being underpaid, they cram is dilapidated quarters under poor sanitary condition. 

Undeniably, the future of the Philippine sports remains bleak. So there is an urgent need for sports authorities to regroup and take a giant leap forward, otherwise there’s no way for the country to recover its past glory.