MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco yesterday said Filipino athletes to the 28th Southeast Asian Games may be outnumbered but should never be outfought.
Based on the numbers given him, the Philippines ranks fifth in the size of the delegation to the Games slated June 5 to 16 in Singapore.
“I think the Philippines is fifth as far as the size of the delegation is concerned,” said Cojuangco, referring to the 464 athletes making up Team Philippines.
The athletes will be accompanied by 189 officials, including coaches and trainers, a medical staff of 24 and a secretariat of 15.
Thailand, still favored to win the overall title, is sending over a thousand athletes to Singapore, and is eyeing 100 to 110 gold medals.
“Compared to Thailand which has around 1,200 athletes, talagang medyo agrabyado tayo (then we are the underdogs),” said the POC president.
“But that doesn’t mean that we cannot win the medals,” he added.
Philippine chef-de-mission Julian Camacho has projected 40 to 50 gold medals for the Filipinos although the main objective is to improve on the seventh-place finish in 2013 in Myanmar.
Based on Internet reports, the host country ranks second in the size of the delegation with 985 athletes shooting for at least 50 gold medals.
When Singapore last hosted the SEA Games in 1993, it also won 50 gold medals on top of 40 silver and 74 bronze medals and finished fourth overall behind Indonesia (88-81-84), Thailand (63-70-63) and the Philippines (57-59-72).
Malaysia will have the third biggest delegation of over 600 athletes, followed by Indonesia with around 500 athletes eyeing 70 gold medals for the top two spot.
The Philippines is next with 464 bets, followed by Vietnam with 449 athletes shooting for 50 to 70 golds, and then Myanmar with 393 athletes eyeing also 50 gold medals.
With a handful countries (Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore) targeting 50 gold medals, there could be a close battle for fourth to seventh places.
Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam will most likely occupy the top three spots in the medal standings.
Cojuangco said when the Philippines hosted the SEA Games and won the overall title in 2005, it did not even have the biggest delegation of over 700 athletes.
During the send-off party last Wednesday for Team Philippines, the POC chief challenged the athletes to vie for number one in their respective events.
“They felt very confident and buo ang loob. Maski sino ang tanungin mo hindi nila sinasabing susubukan lang namin,” said Cojuangco.
“That’s why when I spoke to them, I told them, ‘Don’t say we can land third place or fourth place overall. Why aim low?’” said Cojuangco.
“We’ve won it before so our mindset should be, ‘Shoot for number one.’ Whether we make it or not, we will shoot for number one,” he said.
Source: Abac Cordero of Philippine Star
