Time to nurture real Games gains

It’s not truly hard to win the overall championship in the Southeast Asian Games, mainly if you happen to be the host country.

What’s really tough is how to hold on to the supremacy once competitions shift to a new country, like what will happen in 2021, when Vietnam takes over the hosting.

The Philippine super soar, from sixth in 2017 all the way to the top this year, will continue to amaze and be a subject of curiosity in the region.

From a measly 24 gold medals in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, the Philippines had an amazing hoard of 149 gold medals here at home.

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No question that magnificent feat will be strongly challenged two years from now. Vietnam, which harvested 98 solid gold medals in Manila, will surely do its best to take over once it starts the hosting, backed by urgent home support.Perennial powerhouse Thailand, which finished a strong third with 92 gold medals here, will also be there to fight for top honors.

Philippine chef de mission Butch Ramirez revealed that urgency did wonders in the assault to rule the 2019 Games, as all-out preparations and training were started for most Filipino teams right after the Kuala Lumpur debacle of 2017.

Ramirez said they immediately provided national athletes all necessities, from food, health supplements, quarters, top-rate coaching, training and foreign exposure, with the utmost goal of shining here at home.For his part, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino said they prepared and followed a master plan that allowed the Philippines to blast off and corner at least 20 gold medals at first blast.

There was no looking back after that for the highly motivated and sharply prepared national contingent.

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Now, Tolentino has been saying there should be no resting on the laurels; and he’s calling for an all-out charge in next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Great call, considering that the Philippines has already qualified two soldiers, namely gymnast Carlos Yulo and pole vaulter John Obieta, to lead the mission to win the country’s first Olympic gold medal.

Still, there’s no assurance how the next Olympic quest will turn out for Filipino athletes, with the likes of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, silver medalist in Rio de Janeiro 2016, and the strong boxing team trying their luck in respective qualifying events for the Tokyo Games.

In short, the first Philippine Olympic gold, despite the historic dominance by the Filipino contingent in this year’s 30th SEA Games, remains a distant dream.

But gold or no gold in Tokyo next year, they should not overlook the immeasurable fervor and enthusiasm generated by the victorious Philippine contingent this year.

There are countless aspirants out there dreaming and willing to jump onto the Philippine sports bandwagon. There’s a burning dream among many in the masses to be in the Philippine contingent.

In Noli Eala’s weekly tv sports program Power and Play on Saturday, members of the victorious national arnis team, which captured a total of 14 gold medals, said they continued to be followed around by young enthusiastic fans, with some coming to New Clark City all the way from Cavite.

These fans were looking for ways, dreaming to be national athletes.

That said, shouldn’t the POC and Philippine Sports Commission join hands and find a way for the most number of Filipinos to be able to get a crack at future national contingents.

There was one suggestion to re-establish or revive the National College of Physical Education that was dissolved during the Marcos regime. A stronger physical education program in schools was also mentioned.

There should be many other ways to help poor Filipino sports dreamers.

There’s a season to celebrate the harvest, there’s a season to work and nurture the seeds that got planted in triumph. INQ