Nationals in ‘shameful’ start in Macau

MACAU – In the face of defeats in chess and fin swimming, squabbles reared their ugly heads in the Philippine participation in the Macau Asian Indoor Games Saturday.

Controversy erupted right in the opening ceremonies at the Macau Stadium when the Philippine futsal team showed up in different uniforms and identification tags, sending the march-off in disarray. Chief of mission Richie Garcia had to regroup the pack which looked poorly organized in different colors.

The futsal team, which wore uniforms provided by their own sponsor, may lose its accreditation in the Southeast Asian Games in December in Thailand as the PSC prepares to investigate the slip as soon as the delegation returns to Manila on Nov. 5.

Futsal team manager Emmanuel Batungbacal also reportedly created a misunderstanding between Philippine officials and organizers due to his incessant demand to refund part of their hotel bills. The team was scheduled to arrive here Oct. 25 but made it only at noon Saturday.

A bigger fuzz, however, was created by a faxed report to the Olympic Council of Asia claiming the Philippine Olympic Committee’s alleged misuse of the OCA donation of $100,000, intended for putting up the POC’s own office.

“We already did (construct an office), using half of the OCA’s donation,” POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros said. “These reports are so malicious it destroys the country’s reputation here.”

The country’s swimmers and chessers suffered similar fates.

The chessers yielded to Kazakhstan, 2.5-1.5, in rapid chess. Teener Wesley So won over Murtas Kashgaleyev but Sherily Cua bowed to Maria Sergeyeva and Chaterine Perena lost to Gulmira Pauletova. Rolando Nolte drew with Anuar Isamgenbelov.

The chessers failed to sustain their 2.5-1.5 win over Malaysia on Friday after absorbing their first loss at the hands of India, 3-1. China led the tournament with 4-0 slate.

Filipino swimmers were utterly outclassed by powerhouse China, Korea and Kazakhstan. Vietnamese swimmers, who consider fin swimming as part of their stronghold in the SEA Games, also submitted impressive times that sent them to the finals set late Saturday night.

Lilian Grace Banzon and Trisha Rhoda Darnayla were the first to fall in the women’s surface 50-m race. Banzon finished second to the last in her heat while Darnayla was last among six entries in the second heat.

 In the women’s surface 100-m race Darnayla finished dead last in her heat, while Emmalyn Keisha Fule also finished sixth among the same number of entries.

The men’s swimmers were not even better. Paul Anthony Capule and Rickie Ryan Tan were at the tailend of their heats in the men’s surface 100-m. Tan was also last in the 50-m heats.The other bet, Gerwin Domingo, placed seventh out of eight entries in the second heat.