Long before next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, the Philippines is already ruing the loss of at least 15 gold medals with the decision of the host country to remove karatedo and muay from the roster of events and reduce the categories to be disputed in taekwondo, wushu and judo.
And as if to add insult to injury, Philippine chef de mission Julian Camacho also announced yesterday that BMX cycling, where Daniel Caluag nailed the lone Filipino gold medal in the recent Incheon Asian Games after topping the same event in the 2013 Burma (Myanmar) Games, won’t be staged either.
“It’s final. There’s no more appeal. If you look at the list, we could lost 15 potential gold medals,” said Camacho during the Philippine Olympic Committee General Assembly at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.
“Despite this, we should remain positive. I think if all NSAs (national sports associations) would do their job, we could still make it,” he added, referring to what he earlier targeted as a fourth or fifth place finish overall from a record low of seventh two years ago.
While the decision to leave out karatedo and muay was somehow expected with Singapore not known as a strong contender in combat sports, limiting the categories in the other events which the country has dominated surprised PH officials.
Camacho said Singapore has limited the competition in taekwondo to three weight classes each for men and women from eight while wushu (sanda) will be reduced to two categories from five.
A total of 402 events from 36 sports will be played in the biennial Games set June 5-16 next year. The Philippines finished seventh in Burma with a gold-silver-bronze haul of 29-34-38.