Philippines looks headed to worst finish in biennial Southeast Asian Games

Palembang, Indonesia—A bruised and battered Team Philippines continues to limp heading to the finish line of the 26th Southeast Asian Games here.

A slow start and a sputtering finish have relegated the Filipinos to their worst finish in the biennial meet ending today, sliding from fifth to sixth overall as medal projections of both the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee completely went off-target—not once but twice.

First, the bench mark was 70 golds and a top three finish.  Then, as the golds came in trickles and not in buckets, the goal was reduced to improving the Filipinos’ fifth place overall standing in the 2009 Laos SEA Games.

Still, the local sports leaders, with their myopic vision, erred.

With but a few events to be held, there’s a minuscule chance the Philippines can surpass its 38-gold output in Vientiane. And to think that only 215 athletes donned the national colors that time.

In this edition, Team Philippines has a complement of 527 athletes entered in 39 of 42 sports calendared, more than a hundred of which either shouldered their expenses or obtained corporate sponsorships.

As of 9 p.m. yesterday (7 p.m. in Manila), all the Filipinos could show was  33  golds, 55 silvers and 76 bronzes, which would pale in comparison to  their 41-91-96 haul in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, where they crashlanded to sixth, just after ruling the 2005 edition back home with a hoard of 113-84-94.

In comparison, the Indonesians are assured of their 10th overall supremacy with a runaway 163-141-128 tally. Deposed champion Thailand is at second (102-87-113), Vietnam third (93-87-99), Malaysia fourth  and Singapore fifth (42-45-73).

There were a lot of gold medal winners for the Philippines yesterday, but not enough to pull it out of sixth place.

Leading the medal haul yesterday was Wesley So, who topped the chess individual blitz competition. Other gold winners were Martin Lorenzo (individual jumping equestrian), Danielle Torres (fin swimming 50m), Denise Dy and Treat Conrad Huey (tennis mixed doubles), Mark Eddiva (wushu 65kg sanshou) and Eduard Folayang (wushu 70kg sanshou).

Late Sunday, the highly touted Sinag Pilipinas men’s basketball team won the gold in men’s basketball competition by defeating Thailand, 85-57.

Former University of the Visayas center Greg Slaughter finished with 16 points and eight rebounds while Ray Parks contributed 15 points, six assists and five boards. /inquirer