Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia is convinced that Filipino athletes generally performed better than expected in 2014.
Garcia said two breakthroughs that saw the Philippines win gold medals for the first time in both the Youth Olympic Games and Asian Beach Games cushioned the country’s below-par form in the Incheon Asian Games.
“We cannot judge the status of Philippine sports based on one event,” Garcia said in yesterday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate. “It will have to be assessed based on the results in entire year.”
Archer Luis Gabriel Moreno nailed a gold when combined with China’s Li Jiaman in the mixed international team event of the Youth Olympics held in August in Nanjing, China.
The Philippines avoided a golden shutout in the Asian Games in September, thanks to BMX racer Daniel Caluag. Filipino athletes went home from Incheon with one gold, three silver and 11 bronze medals.
“I myself was disappointed with our performance in the Asian Games,” said the PSC chief during the weekly sport forum presented by Shakey’s, Accel and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
“We did not win the number of medals we wanted to win. But we’re not blaming anyone. Our athletes gave their all.”
Filipino athletes made up for the setback in the Asiad by seizing three golds in the Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Thailand, last month.
Jiujitsu specialists Annie Ramirez and Fil-Japanese Maybelline Masuda and windsurfer Geylord Coveta provided the golden moments the country failed to achieve in the first three editions of the Games.