PSC, POC give athletes fair mark despite SEAG setback

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee officials gave the national athletes generally a passing mark for the year despite what some quarters perceived as lackluster performance in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.

Team Philippines went home with 29 gold, 36 silver, and 66 bronze medals and finished sixth overall in the final medal tally of the Singapore SEAG, the major international joust for 2015. But PSC chairman Richie Garcia and POC president Peping Cojuangco maintained the SEAG outing shouldn’t be the sole gauge of the Nationals’ showing as they also triumphed in other fronts.

“SEA Games ang nagiging pang-measure ng taong bayan (People generally use the SEA Games as gauge) but actually there are so many other events or tournaments where the athletes performed well. Some even won medals in world championships in the youth, men’s or women’s division” Garcia said in an interview on DZSR.

“Kung titignan natin ang total medals natin sa international competitions, hindi na kahiya-hiya. Marami tayong medalyang pinapanalo, unfortunately hindi lang nalalathala (If we count the total medals our athletes won in various competitions this year, it’s something we can be proud of. Unfortunately, their exploits just didn’t get much publicity),” said Cojuangco.

The PSC chief cited the likes of Chezka Centeno, who reigned in the world junior 9-ball championship in China last November; wushu artists Arnel Andal and Divine Wally, who struck gold in the world wushu championship in Indonesia also last month and spearheaded a 2-2-1 harvest for the Pinoys; and Margarita Ochoa, who captured the mint in the world jiu-jitsu championships last May in the US.

“Hindi naman masyadong publicized but marami tayong atleta na nag-perform sa international events (We have a lot of athletes who delivered in international competitions without much publicity),” said Garcia.

“We’re compiling all the records of the gold, silver and bronze medalists (the entire year) and it should be out before the end of the year,” said Garcia.