Camacho: PH to bring home 45-50 SEAG golds

Philippine chief of mission Julian Camacho is expecting that Filipino athletes will bring home between 45 to 50 gold medals from the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.

Although he declined to name them, Camacho got the assurance from top national sports association officials who will field in their athletes in the June 5 to 16 biennial meet.

“I don’t want to make any prediction as far as placing in the overall standing is concerned, but we’ve been counting the possible medals,” said the Philippine Olympic Committee treasurer and secretary general of the Wushu Federation of the Philippines.

The Philippines has projected the participation of at least 500 athletes from 34 sports to improve on its seventh-place performance in the Games held in Burma last year.

There are 36 sports in Singapore where 402 gold medals are up for grabs.

“This is the last international competition for this government and the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) is throwing its full support behind this endeavor,” said Camacho.

Camacho’s gold-medal target is equivalent to fifth place overall in Burma where Filipino athletes came home with 29 gold, 34 silver and 38 bronze medals.

So far, the only problem that Camacho sees during the Games is the mobilization of the medical team since the athletes will stay in hotels near the venues of competition.

Athletes, coaches and officials from the 11 competing countries normally stay inside the Games village built by the host country for the entire meet.

In Singapore’s case, however, the organizing committee decided to do away with the usual practice and maximize the overabundance of hotels within the wealthy city-state.

“The medical team needs to go around and look after the health and well-being of the athletes. How can you efficiently do that when you have 500 athletes staying all over the city?” said Camacho.