Sports officials way off 70-gold prediction

In a couple more days, the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia will come to a conclusion, but so far what have we got to show?
As of Nov. 19, our medal tally was still down at  20 golds, 35 silvers and 50 bronzes, good for sixth place after  Indonesia, Vietnam,  defending champion Thailand,  Malaysia and Singapore, in that order. Paul Mata of AKTV , which covered the Games, reported that the Philippines failed to  produce a single gold on Day 8.
Twenty gold medals is less than a third of the 70 golds predicted by POC president Peping Cojuangco and PSC chair Richie Garcia during the sendoff for the athletes at the Ultra a few days before their departure for Indonesia.
Seventy golds would probably be good enough for a third or fourth overall finish, although chef-de-mission Julian Camacho even went so far as to boldly dish out a runner-up forecast.
I was at the Ultra when these prognostications were made.
* * *
Obviously, there’s no way for us  to get anywhere near the target of 70 golds predicted by Peping and Richie, considering that the only possible sources left are from men’s basketball,  men’s baseball, women’s softball, billiards (Bata Reyes) and tennis (Cecil Mamiit, singles and doubles).
Is our country retrogressing instead of improving?
In the 2009 Laos SEA Games we finished 5th with 38 gold medals. Thailand was No. 1 overall with  86, followed closely by Vietnam with 83.  Indonesia was in  third place with 43 and Malaysia at fourth with 40, while  Singapore was in sixth place with 33 golds
We are getting closer and closer to the bottom of standings.
* *  *
Finally, I was able to unravel the mystery of the wrecked cellphone  incident before the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez fight.
Nobody cared  too much really, if the fight had been between Manny Pacquiao  and his conditioning coach Alex Ariza. There was nothing too hot about that.
But a fight between Manny and wife Jinkee is really grist for the rumor mill.
Manny was reportedly extremely annoyed with the nagging of Ariza, who wanted him to rest and  have a good night’s sleep. He just wouldn’t stop telling the Pacman that it was way past his bedtime.
Manny, on the other hand, had only half an ear on Ariza’s direction because he  was focused  on the person he was having a shouting bout with on the phone.
It was Jinkee on the other end of the line.
Jinkee was not booked in the same hotel where Manny was.  According to reports, she was staying in another hotel  with friends.
In a fit of anger or frustration, Manny had smashed his cellphone  on the floor, probably landing on the glass tabletop which was broken.
Whether the act of violence was intended for Jinkee or Ariza, no one can tell for sure.
Manny was being irritated by both at the time he smashed his cellphone.
* * *
Boxing experts are  a bit apprehensive over the probable  result of the forthcoming fight of flyweight champ Brian “The Hawaiian Punch” Viloria and  Mexican knockout artist Giovani Segura.
That’s because Segura has beaten several Filipino boxers,  a number of them via knockout.
But Viloria is a smart, intelligent fighter and that should work for him.
The Viloria-Segura bout  is scheduled here in Manila in December before Christmas.