Gregorio cites three takeaways from Asiad

MANILA, Philippines — POC secretary-general Patrick Gregorio disclosed the other day three takeaways from the recent Asian Games in Indonesia and said if only the Philippines picked up a sure fifth gold from middleweight boxer Eumir Marcial, the country would’ve improved from No. 19 to No. 17 in the medal tally, overtaking Southeast Asian rival Vietnam.

Gregorio, who is also ABAP vice president, said he couldn’t believe how Marcial lost a 3-2 split decision to Uzbekistan’s Ismail Madrimov in the semifinals. Madrimov, a hero in his home country and Uzbekistan’s flag-bearer in the Asian Games opening parade, took a standing eight-count in the third round and was lucky to finish the fight on his feet. But three judges gave their nod to the Uzbek. Since the AIBA president Gafur Rahimov is from Uzbekistan, it was no coincidence that seven Uzbek fighters advanced to all seven finals in the men’s division. If Uzbekistan had women fighters, they would’ve probably swept the three female divisions, too.

“Fighters from different countries went to Eumir’s lockerroom to console him,” said Gregorio. “The head of the Indonesian boxing federation told me Eumir deserved to be in the finals where he would’ve won the gold. That would’ve been our fifth gold.”

The Philippines finished with four gold, two silver and 15 bronze medals for a total haul of 21, eight more than No. 15 Qatar. One more gold would’ve dislodged Vietnam from No. 17. Two more would’ve moved the Philippines up to No. 15 over Qatar, Mongolia and Singapore.

Gregorio said the first takeaway was the Philippines could’ve won the gold medal in men’s basketball. If the Philippines beat China in the group stage, the way would’ve been clear for a final finish. Defeating China would’ve sent the Philippines to an easy assignment against Indonesia in the quarterfinals and another easy outing against Chinese-Taipei in the semifinals, leading to a gold medal showdown against either China or Iran. 

“We lost to China by two in Jordan Clarkson’s first game with us,” said Gregorio. “We were a three-point shot away from winning. That proved our ability to compete. Every game, we got better and better. In our last two games, we demolished Japan by 33 and Syria by 54. Syria gave Iran a hard time before losing by 13 in the group stage. If Eumir and our basketball team won golds as they could have, we would’ve finished No. 15 overall.”

The second takeaway was the Philippines should zero in on new sports being introduced in the Asian Games. Indonesia, for instance, capitalized on pencak silat and gained 14 gold medals from the debuting sport. Gregorio said the Philippines did the same with skateboarding. Last June, Gregorio said the country’s “secret weapon” in the Asian Games was skateboarder Margie Didal. “Margie trained in Hong Kong and London with support from the MVP Sports Foundation,” said Gregorio. “Let’s do this right and we can win in skateboarding.” As Gregorio foresaw, Didal hit paydirt in Indonesia. “We know four years in advance what new sports will be introduced in the next Asian Games so there’s time to prepare,” he said.

The third takeaway was the Philippines should focus on individual sports where performance is measured quantitatively with no subjectivity. “Take weightlifting, for example,” said Gregorio. “North Korea took seven gold medals in weightlifting in Indonesia, three more than our total overall. Unfortunately, we failed to take a single medal from medal-rich sports like athletics, swimming and shooting which are decided quantitatively. Archery is another sport in this category but our archers also failed to win a medal.”

Gregorio said it doesn’t mean the Philippines should give up on boxing where the outcome is highly subjective for the most part. “Because of the uproar over bum decisions, it looks like AIBA will allow protests in the future,” he said. “That’s a step in the right direction. But it’s better to take a step back and clean up the ranks of incompetent or corrupt judges instead of wait for protests. We were victims of controversial decisions in Indonesia. So what else is new?”

Gregorio said judo’s Kiyomi Watanabe looks like a future gold medalist. “Four years ago in Incheon, she took seventh,” he said. “Now, she improved to second for a silver. Four years from now, Kiyomi promised a gold. Another gold prospect Carlos Yulo of gymnastics showed his potential but couldn’t bring home a medal. He’s only 18 so it’s understandable that he got nervous. But he’ll bounce back. He’s a future gold medalist even if gymnastics is decided by subjective scoring.”