Oldest, youngest in SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine contingent has both one of the oldest and youngest members in one team – shooting.

Tac Padilla, 47, is competing for a record 17th time in the SEA Games where he was five-time champion. He was Southeast Asian champion nine times and holds the national record for standard pistol, rapid fire and center fire pistol. He was national champion when he was 14 years old.

Jayson Valdez, son of three-time SEAG gold medalist Julius who now serves as national coach here, turned 16 two months before the SEA Games. At his age, he already holds the Phl mark in the air rifle pistol.

He is one of the products of the Philippine Youth Development Program, supervised by Padilla himself in his desire to create a pool of future Philippine champions.

This karate black belt, who has competed in Singapore, the Asian Games and Thailand as part of Padilla’s development program for his young shooters, is being groomed to compete in next year’s London Olympics.

The oldest is no longer billiards Efren “Bata” Reyes but two bridge players, both women. One, a former school teacher, is 77, while the other is a retired lawyer, 76, but they have requested that their name be withheld – for age reasons.

The country’s youngest player is Paulyn Lopez, a Fil-American who made her debut in last year’s Asian Games. At 15, she is coming back determined to win the gold.   The country’s youngest players were formerly gymnasts, who could compete as early as 14 years, but the new ruling requiring participants to be at last 18 years old puts the country’s youngest gymnastics participants at 19.