Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 9) – The Philippines is inching in closer to the overall championship, making it “almost impossible to beat” in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) chairman Steve Hontiveros said in an interview Monday that the country will likely retain its lead with its wide margin of winnings over other countries to date.
“For the other countries to catch up with us, it’s almost impossible because of their margin. There’s only about three days to go and no one country can get that margin of about 40 gold. For them to get 40 gold, with three days to ago, it is almost impossible,” Hontiveros said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Hontiveros is referring to Vietnam and Indonesia which are currently tied at second place with 65 gold medals each.
The Philippines has an overall haul of 288 medals – 113 gold, 86 silver and 89 bronze as of writing. The country has just reached its highest gold medal record when it hosted the SEA Games in 2005.
“I can assume that we already got the overall champion for this Southeast Asian Games. Sure na tayo. Ang malaking bagay talaga, yung nagkaroon ng tranining ng husto for the last year (What really matters is we had an overall training for the past year),” he added.
Hontiveros noted that the country’s rule could be attributed to the amount of support that the government poured into the preparation and training of Filipino athletes–inside and outside the country.
“The support given to the athletes, there’s a lot of exposure for national athletes. That’s why they were able to perform that well. Mas malaki ang ginastos ng gobyerno ngayon compared to the past years. This time, malaki talaga binigay ng sports commission na mga byahe (the sports commission really spent a lot on international trips) to expose our athletes to the…other parts of the world,” he added.
Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo expressed the same sentiment on Sunday, saying the country’s players are sure to emerge when given sufficient opportunities by the administration.
“Pagpapakita ito na kapag nabigyan ng maayos na pagkakataon, sapat na training, sapat na suporta, mas maraming opportunities iyong ating mga kababayan, talagang iyong chance na makapag-compete with the best hindi lang sa Southeast Asia, pero the best in the world, kaya,” she said.
[Translation: This just proves that when we are given enough chance, sufficient training, support, and more opportunities for our countrymen, the chance to compete with the best will not be only in Southeast Asia, but it can also be done with the best in the other parts of the world. That’s why we thank all of those who carried the flag here in the SEA Games–even the coaches, the families who have sacrificed a lot. We thank those who brought us pride, and we pray that they will continue to show what they got in the field of sports.]
The 12-day sporting event will end on December 11, Wednesday.
“Kaya tayo naman, nagpapasalamat tayo sa lahat na mga nagdala ng bandila natin dito sa SEA Games—pati na iyong mga coaches, pati iyong mga families na malaki iyong sakripisyo. Nagpapasalamat tayo sa pagbibigay sa atin ng karangalan,at pinagdarasal natin iyong patuloy na paghusay nila sa larangan ng sports.”
