POC exec to NSAs: Don’t blame Myanmar

MANILA, Philippines - A ranking official of the Philippine Olympic Committee said there’s no point blaming organizers of this year’s Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar for what is perceived or feared to be a dismal showing for the Filipino athletes.

“Why should we blame Myanmar when our NSAs (national sports associations) should be blaming themselves?” said Julian Camacho, POC treasurer and former president of the Philippine Wushu Federation.

There’s been a lot of talk about Myanmar’s decision to include traditional and indigenous sports that are hardly being played by other member countries, and remove certain sports the hosts are not good at.

In martial arts events like kempo and vovinam and chinlone (cane ball) alone, there are around 44 gold medals at stake. Host athletes are expected to scoop up the gold medals in these events in its bid to finish high in the standings.

The Philippines was sixth overall in the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, just a notch higher than Myanmar, and top Filipino officials have already sounded the warning that the Philippines will most likely end up seventh in December.

Camacho said he’s not surprised why other countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore are not making any fuss about Myanmar’s move.

“It’s because they all have a steady source of gold medals. They are not too worried about Myanmar because they know where to get their golds,” said Camacho.

The secretary-general of the wushu federation said the NSAs should carry the responsibility.

“The NSAs should blame themselves. If you look at the medal standings in the 2011 SEA Games, you will see how we all fared. Why is it that in athletics, which offered 46 golds, we only won two (2-9-5) or in swimming, with 38 golds at stake, we didn’t win any (0-2-5)?” he asked.

Of the top six countries in the 2011 SEA Games, only the Philippines failed to win a single gold in swimming. Singapore won 17, Thailand eight, Indonesia six, Malaysia five, Vietnam two and the Philippines zero.

Shooting offered 14 golds and the Philippines also went zero. In taekwondo, Pinoy jins won four of 21 golds staked, wushu 2-of-20, boxing 4-of-14, cycling 2-of-18, archery 1-of-10, bowling 1-0f-10 and billiards 3-of-10.

The Philippines landed sixth with 36 gold, 56 silver and 77 bronze medals in 2011 behind Indonesia (182-151-143), Thailand (109-100-120), Vietnam (96-92-100), Malaysia (59-50-81) and Singapore (42-45-73). Myanmar was in seventh with 16-27-37.

The Philippines did not win a single gold in 12 sports disciplines, including swimming (0-2-5), diving (0-2-1) karate (0-1-6), soft tennis (0-1-5), pencak silat (0-1-3), weightlifting (0-1-2), sailing (0-1-1), water polo (0-1-0), water ski (0-0-2), golf (0-0-1), sepak takraw (0-0-1) and table tennis (0-0-1).

“We also cannot blame the POC and the PSC for this,” said Camacho.

Jose Romasanta, POC first vice-president, said all’s not lost for the Philippines in the SEA Games if only the NSAs could find other ways to win, even in Myanmar.

“It’s not only us who will suffer but some other countries as well. Now we have to study what our objectives are. A disadvantage on one side could be an advantage on another,” he said.

“But they (NSAs) have to do their homework. We all need to rethink our objectives. Let’s look at what we have so we can maneuver. Let us strategize. Kung hindi mo kaya akyatin yung bundok sa harapan, humanap ka ng ibang daan,” he said.

In the SEA Games, host countries have the right to include or remove events in the calendar but top officials of the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission said there’s a strong tendency for the hosts to abuse the right.

Jose Cojuangco, POC president, said when the Philippines hosted and won the overall title in the 2005 SEA Games, the only traditional sport in the calendar was arnis. It only offered six golds, and the Philippines won only three, and Vietnam the other three.

“We did not abuse the right,” said Camacho.

“But at the same time, we cannot blame Myanmar,” he added.