RP Asiad medal tally best since 1962

DOHA — With the national divers failing to medal late Thursday, the Philippines closed out its Asian Games campaign with four gold medals, six silvers and nine bronzes for its best finish since 1962.

Rexel Fabriga wound up sixth while Jaime Asok 10th in the final of the 10m platform event at the Hamad Aquatic Centre, wrapping up the Filipinos’ stint in this 15th staging of the Games that started out slow but ended with some spark of brilliance.

Thanks to boxers Violito Payla and Joan Tipon, cue artist Antonio Gabica and Rene Catalan, the gutsy wushu fighter who overcame the odds, including tall, heftier rivals to bag the gold medal in the 52kg division of sanshou, Team RP rallied at the finish to salvage 18th place overall.

It was a notch higher than what the Filipinos accomplished in the 2002 Games in Busan, South Korea, which produced a 3-7-16 haul, and it bettered by one silver the 1986 Asian Gamers’ feat in Seoul.

The Filipinos recorded their best showing at home in 1954 when they won 14 golds, 14 silvers and 17 bronzes and had 8-9-21 in Tokyo in 1958.

But after racking up a 7-4-16 haul in the Jakarta Games in 1962, the Filipinos’ performance in the Asiad took a tailspin, winning only two golds, 15 silvers and 25 bronzes in Thailand in 1966, posting a 1-9-12 tally in Bangkok in 1970, making 0-2-10 in Iran in 1974, tallying 4-4-6 in 1978 in Thailand, taking 2-3-9 in India in 1982, winning 4-5-9 in Seoul Games in 1986, settling for 1-2-7 in 1990 in Beijing, winning 3-2-8 in the 1994 in Hiroshima and posting a 1-5-12 tally in 1998 in Bangkok.

RP won three golds, five silvers and seven bronzes in the inaugural Games in India in 1951.

Sports officials have lauded the national athletes’ performance but observers believe there’s much work to be done to improve the Filipinos’ caliber and cope up with the level of competition.

In fact, the main rivals of the Philippines in the regional Southeast Asian Games, which it ruled last year in Manila, finished ahead of it with perennial regional rival Thailand priming up for another dominating performance in the SEAG it would be hosting next year with an impressive fifth place finish here.

The Thais collected 13 golds, 15 silvers and 26 bronze medals.

China also warmed up for the Olympics in Beijing by amassing 164 gold medals, nearly three times more that what runner-up Korea took, as it proved again its overwhelming supremacy in the sporting arena of the world’s biggest continent. The Chinese also won 88 silvers and 63 bronze medals. The Koreans wound up with a 58-53-82 tally while Japan, which used to dominate the Games, settled for third with 50-71-77.

Malaysia placed 10th with 17-17-42 while Singapore wound up in 12th place with 8-7-12.