Philippines hopeful for better finish with level field in ASEAN Para Games

PHNOM PENH — In a fair, equal field, the proud, a determined Philippine crew puts its best foot forward as it wades into battle in the 12th ASEAN Para Games unfurling Saturday at the sprawling Morodok Techno National Stadium here.

Philippine chef-de-mission and national sports commissioner Walter Torres on Wednesday said all is impartial here compared to the Southeast Asian Games this Cambodian capital hosted less than a month ago.

“Wala ako nabalitaan na merong naturalized players sila,” said Torres, who flew in a few days ago to oversee the country’s participation in this biennial spectacle.

“Magtatanong ako sa coaches kasi sila nakakahalubilo sa ibang players pero sa news, so far, wala ako naririnig.”

“There’s also no restrictions since we have a classifier here, which levels the playing field,” he added.

Torres, who will be joined by Philippine Paralympic Committee president Mike Barredo Thursday and Philippine Sports Commission chair Richard Bachmann Saturday, of course, was referring to the wanton tapping by the host nation of naturalized athletes in several sports including basketball, cricket and triathlon and unfair limitation of events by the visiting countries in the last SEA Games.

It resulted in the Filipinos, who are bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission, winding up fifth with a 58-85-117 (gold-silver-bronze) harvest and the Cambodians ending up fourth with an 81-74-129 haul.

Interestingly, the Para team was also fifth in Surakarta a year back following a 28-30-46 collection, an effort Torres felt the country could surpass, if not duplicate.

“This morning, we had a meeting and I used the medal tally board as motivation. I told them sana umabot tayo sa fourth, which would already be an achievement,” said Torres. “I was able to get a commitment from them, and it's very exciting.”

Except for a very few athletes including those from esports, which will debut as a demo event, almost all the 176-strong league of extraordinary gentlemen and women from the country are accounted for.

It included the all-powerful teams from athletics, chess and swimming, which accounted for all the mints snared by the country in Surakarta.

The Rene Macabenguil-skippered wheelchair basketball squad is also coming in riding high on its breakthrough bronze-medal finish in the Asia-Oceania Championships a month ago that secured them a spot to Asian Para Games slated October 22-28 in Hangzhou, China.

“Hopefully, maka-gold kami this time,” said Macabenguil, who was part of the national team’s best finish in the sport — a silver last year and in 2005 back in Manila.