NAYPYITAW—From 30 to 25 gold medals. The head of the Philippine delegation in the 27th Southeast Asian Games here has lowered his target as the country struggled to break into double digits in the gold medal count halfway through the biennial meet.
“I feel we will fall short of the 30 we had initially set,” chef de mission Jeff Tamayo told the Inquirer Sunday.
The PH delegation was actually stuck at three golds since Tuesday and even fell to eighth spot behind Cambodia until boxing delivered three golds and karate-do contributed another Saturday.
“The way it is now, 25 golds is the target,” said Tamayo, who noted that the teams tipped to deliver only managed to get the “minimum” result.
Athletics, which only got going Sunday at Wunna Theikdi Stadium, is still considered a rich source of medals, just like taekwondo, sailing, windsurfing and judo.
The country brought home 36 gold medals in the 2011 Palembang Games with 512 athletes in 39 sports. This year, only half of the number of the athletes were flown here as the Philippine Olympic Committee strictly imposed a gold-silver standard.
Surprisingly shut out of gold medal was wrestling, which Tamayo attributes to the rise of Cambodia as a force in the sport due to the foreign training and foreign coaches that the country has acquired.
Host Burma (Myanmar) has already flexed its muscles with 34 golds by midday Sunday.
“When they knew they were hosting, they were willing to spend as much for their athletes as their hosting. They’re aiming for No. 3,” said Tamayo.
Still Tamayo is hopeful there will be plenty of golden performances coming from Filipino athletes.
“Hopefully, our athletes will continue fighting,” said Tamayo. “We can only accept what the Myanmar SEA Games has for us and hope for the best.”