RP to improve on KL performance

The man at the helm of screening athletes who will comprise the RP delegation to this year’s Southeast Asian Games vows to surpass the achievements the country gained in Kuala Lumpur two years ago.

Whether it would be in terms of gold medals won or the order of finish in the overall standings is not clear, though.

"We’ll do our best to surpass whatever we achieved in Malaysia in 2001," said Steve Hontiveros, chairman of the SEAG Technical Commission, when he guested in the PSA Forum yesterday at the Manila Pavilion together with RP Chef de Mission Julian Camacho.

The Philippines won 31 gold medals in the Kuala Lumpur Games for fifth place, falling two gold medals short of fourth placer Vietnam.

With Hanoi hosting the biennial meet for the first time this December, the Filipinos again find themselves hard-pressed to win as the region’s top honors are expected to be disputed by traditional powers Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the host country.

Still, Hontiveros remains undaunted.

"I believe we can pull this one off. As long as we believe in our athletes at magtutulong-tulong tayo," he added in the same forum sponsored by Red Bull, Agfa Colors and Pagcor.

Unlike the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), whose chairman Eric Buhain was vocal enough to say that winning 60 gold medals are good enough to finish third in Vietnam, Hontiveros, also the country’s bowling chief, refused to be drawn in a game of prediction.

Although the bulk of the delegation is already known after 422 athletes qualified for the Games, Hontiveros insisted it would still be very hard to determine the number of gold medals based on such factor alone.

"To predict right away ay mahirap," he said. "I think the next best thing to do is to sit down with these athletes, coaches and officials and asked them what their outlook will be. Then from there, more or less, we’ll have an idea."

It augurs well too, for the Philippines’ campaign that the rift between the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the PSC on issues concerning the country’s SEAG stint, is finally over.

"Let’s start a new chapter. Kalimutan na natin kung anuman ang nangyari. Iisa lang naman ang dadalhin nating flag e, hindi naman sa POC at PSC lang," said Hontiveros.