IT’S anybody’s ballgame.
That is how Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham Tolentino described the race for the overall title as Cambodia takes its turn to host the Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in capital Phnom Penh next year.
“In spite of our short preparation, we were successful in the SEA Games,” said Mr. Tolentino during Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
“If we could train longer, I’m optimistic the overall race would be anybody’s ballgame,” he added.
To maximize the country’s chances, the congressman from Tagaytay said they would participate in all 40 events the Cambodians would calendar in the biennial meet.
“We will participate in all, even if its ASEAN chess, xiangi or Korean martial arts. We’ll never know what will happen since we still have one year to prepare,” he said.
The Filipinos finished fourth with a 52-gold, 70-silver and 105-bronze medal haul in Hanoi.
The PhilCycling chief said the country would go all out to surpass, if not match, its effort in Hanoi.
And if the stars aligned, a first-place finish will not be far-fetched.
“If fair game, we could have been second. We have great athletes. Of our 70 silver medals, 42 were from subjective sports including 27 were the opponents were from host Vietnam,” he said. — Joey Villar