Goma: RP fencers still miles away

BUSAN, South Korea — Matinee idol Richard Gomez walks into the venue and instantly detonates the fans in the stand into shrieks, and shouts and chants of "Goma, Goma Goma," be it in individual competition Sunday.

But unlike in the world of make-believe, Goma is very realistic about the state of RP the mall back home or in the competition venue like here in the Busan Games.

The guy hasn’t lost the touch despite probably losing some of the edge in popularity in the world of showbiz to the younger hunks and present teen heartthrobs.

Now Goma was on the spotlight again but in different light, this time as a national standard bearer in fencing which actually began with the epee — his favorite event and where he went down in the preliminaries against fencers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan, Japan and Uzbekistan. He won over Qatar’s Al Yami Fahad Ahmed.

"Our chance of winning in fencing, and I’m speaking for the entire team, is bleak. We cannot cope with the skills of world power fencers like the Chinese and the Koreans," he said.

The fencers have trained hard for the event, he said, but felt that the amount of time and budget given them might not be enough to bring them to the level of the top fencers in the continent.

"We can always take the exposure we get here and work on it to prepare for next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam," he said.

Even on the chances of the Philippines on the broader stage of the Asiad were modest as far as Gomez was concerned, maintaining five golds will be a stupendous result for the Filipinos.

"Five golds is fantastic if we can achieve it," he said.

Goma, who was ranked second nationally last year in his favorite event, is a veteran of the 1995 and 1997 SEA Games and the 1998 Bangkok Games. The celebrated actor and Bench apparel lead endorser for a time, is a natural for sport. He was into basketball, motor racing, rowing, golf—where he holds the annual celebrity Goma Cup—and at present tinkering his hand on shooting if he could get free time from his tight schedule in the movies and television.

He was a silver medalist in the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta in the individual and team event and in the Asia Pacific championship in Manila the same year. He was a gold medalist in the team epee event in the 1997 SEAG in Jakarta and in the 1996 Philippine National Games.

"I have to rush back home after my events, masyadong maraming trabaho. If I were away for two weeks, marami ang nawawala sa akin. Still I can mix fencing and acting.

In fact, we are training all-year round," said Gomez who is one of the stars of GMA Channel 7 where he does the soap ‘Ang Iibigin Ay Ikaw’, SOP, Sunday Show and some talk shows.

"We are miles away from approximating the skills of other Asians in fencing but we are trying our best and we will get there," he said.

Meanwhile, two other Filipino fencers, Rolando Canlas Jr. and Emerson Segui advanced to the next round in the men’s individual foil event while a third bet Avelino Victorino made it to the second round in the epee. The conclusion of these events will be held late Sunday.