30 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY September 16 - 30 , 2017
SPECTATOR
By Al Mendoza
Why we finished 6th overall in SEA Games
WHO is chiefly to blame for our worst finish in the just-ended SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur ?
Our sports officials , who else ?
Most of them are nothing but a bunch of NPAs for the longest time .
Of course , you already know what NPA mean : Never Performing Animals .
We sent 497 athletes to Kuala Lumpur and they brought home a measly 24 gold medals .
Good for sixth overall in the 11-nation meet .
In 2005 , we won 113 gold medals and emerged overall champions .
Held every two years , we sank to fifth overall in 2007 in Bangkok with a terrible dip of 46 gold medals .
That triggered our decline in Asean sporting competition .
From 46 golds in 2007 , we never got past 40 golds again in the succeeding five SEAG events .
From champion in 2005 , we finished fifth in 2007 , seventh in 2009 , fifth 2011 , sixth in 2013 and sixth again in 2015 .
This year , we were sixth overall again .
But what finish can we expect from a 24-gold medal output ?
Overall champion Malaysia had 145 gold medals .
That ’ s 121 more gold medals than our puny production .
And yet , before the Games , Malaysia had predicted to win “ only ” 111 gold medals . How about us ? Be calm , OK ? Cynthia Carrion , our chief of mission in Kuala Lumpur , predicted 50 gold medals . Not only that . Here ’ s more from Carrion , the gymnastics president : “ My bolder prediction is we would win 63 gold medals .”
Where she got those golds , she didn ’ t say .
Not contented with ramming her crystal ball into our throats , she said , by way of covering up for her monumental boo-boo : “ I made those predictions only to motivate our athletes .”
As Digong would say , “ My Gad !”
As if to back up his
out-of-this-world choice of Carrion as chef de mission , Peping Cojuangco said : “ Let ’ s move on to 2019 .”
Peping , of course , is the most overstaying president of the Philippine Olympic Committee ( POC ).
By being in his post since 2004 , he also becomes the No . 1 NPA in our sporting world .
If he remains POC president by 2019 when the SEA Games is held here ( his third term ends in 2020 ), Peping the octogenarian has a chance to redeem himself ?
And redemption would mean our victory in the 2019 SEA Games ?
Maybe . But do you know that virtually all countries that host the Games end up overall champions — the reason being that event rules allow for the host nation to select which disciplines to be contested .
That gives the host country undue advantage — but by one weird reason or two , the 11-member nations had been allowing it for decades . With eyes closed .
Let Peping and Carrion then trumpet about their yet stupid comeback strategies for 2019 .
In the meantime , we lick our wounds . Again .
Smorgasbord of events
WITH so many major events crowding both the local and world sporting scenes recently , I had a hard time choosing a topic for this issue ’ s offering .
A smorgasbord of events had flooded the landscape , bewildering everyone almost which show , at best , would take their fancy and following it to the very end .
There is that Pacquiao-Horn rematch supposedly tabled already for November 12 but got tangled up when a Pacquiao aide suddenly announced it would be held in Manila in December .
Even Tourism secretary Wanda Teo bit the bait and got burned in the process .
Only when Pacquiao said the fight will be in 2018 that all speculations had come to a halt .
Oh , well , in boxing , as I keep saying , certainty is the most elusive word ; say it is almost non-existent and I will agree 99.99 percent .
And then there was the import issue of San Miguel Beer , the Grand Slam-seeking powerhouse in the Philippine Basketball Association ( PBA ).
Its shaky start was virtually authored by Wendell McKinis , the nocturnal import that loved to booze more than do serious practice .
As speedily as he could like the quick brown fox , SMB coach Leo Austria threw McKinis out and took in Tarik Bridgeman .
But , holy cow , Bridgeman proved to be a lemon of monumental proportions .
Bridgeman produced a mere basket in his debut and , given a second chance , he “ improved ” to four points in his succeeding game to help SMB absorb its second straight setback .
Not wanting to see a conflagration that could raze SMB ’ s Slam dreams to the ground , a third import was taken with the speed of sound .
And with Terrence Watson debuting with 28 points and 17 rebounds , SMB was back on the winning track .
A n - other sterling second game c e m e n t e d Watson ’ s stint with the Beermen as SMB went up to 5-3 and , suddenly , a sweep of its last three games looks bright to earn a coveted twice-to-beat margin in the quarterfinals .
A n d how can I forget Sloane S t e p h e n s ’ U . S . Open victory over fellow American Madison Keys ?
O n l y last January , Stephens had a foot surgery , coming back to play only in May .
A n d now she is a major champ — only the second u n s e e d e d ( ranked 957th ) woman to win in the Open
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