Youth Games shutout looms for RP; PSC chief says it’s no big deal

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines suffered yet another painful defeat in three-in-three basketball, dropping a 22-19 decision to Croatia in the Youth Olympic Games and pushing the country closer to a shutout in what sports officials had earlier predicted to be a fruitful campaign in Singapore.   But Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia yesterday said the looming shutout of the RP delegation was nothing to worry about.   “We didn’t expect them to win medals anyway,” he said of the nine Filipino athletes earlier described by RP chief of mission Mark Joseph as “all strong medal contenders.”   “It was a good experience for the young athletes,” added the top official of the PSC, which spent P1.5 million for the RP delegation.   Garcia said weightlifting and the 3-on-3 basketball team “had great moments.’”   Bobby Ray Parks, Jr., Jeron Teng, Cris Michael Tolomia and Michael Pate were certainly on target to provide the delegation with yet another “great moment” as they led 13-9 at the half and 19-14 in the stretch, only to blow a quarterfinal berth when the taller Croatians made one last run in the end.   The 6-foot-3 Tomislva Grubisic, 6-5 Matej Buovac, 6-7 Marko Ramljak and 6-8 Stipe Krstanovic shut down the Filipinos with an 8-0 blitz that iced the game.   “Croatia did not win, we lost. This hurts,” said Joseph.   Llena, one of the country’s best hopes for a medal, managed only fifth place in the 63-kilogram division of weightlifting Tuesday night.   The basketball team, which suffered a third straight defeat, thus joined other Filipino bets in the sidelines.   Tennis ace Jeson Patrombon earlier crashed out in both the singles and doubles competitions. Taekwondo-jin Kirk Barbosa also bowed out of the medal race early.   Swimmers Jasmine Al-Khaldi and Jhessie King Lacuna also didn’t fare well in their events although Lacuna managed to make the finals of the boys’ 200-meter freestyle, where he finished eighth.   Lacuna and Al-Khaldi still have events to compete in and carry the country’s final hopes for this sporting event for young athletes.