“Our goal for next year’s SEA Games is to match or surpass the achievement of Patafa during its golden age.”

The Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association is looking to win at least a dozen gold medals in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, a feat aimed at surpassing an achievement during the golden age of Philippine Athletics more than three decades ago.

Patafa president Philip Ella Juico said their morale is high as they enter the final phase of the preparation for the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta next month.

The team started training camp at the Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite last June 23, where the athletes declared their readiness to bring back the glory the country enjoyed in the SEA Games in Manila in 1981 and in Singapore in 1983.

Winning 12 gold medals in the prestigious biennial meet is possible.

Three Filipino-American prospects in sprinters Kristina Knott, Trenten Beram and Eric Cray are capable of winning as many as seven gold medals in their respective events while marathon queen Mary Joy Tabal, pole vault specialist EJ Obiena, jumpers Janry Ubas and Harry Diones and decathlete Aries Toledo are a cinch to rule their respective events after posting impressive records recently.

Juico said two more Filipino-Americans are in the pipeline as well as Carter Lily, the University of Iowa miler who committed to the SEA Games that will be held in Clark in December next year.

“Our goal for next year’s SEA Games is to match or surpass the achievement of Patafa during its golden age,” said Juico.

“We have a very deep pool of talents who are all capable of winning gold medals in the SEA Games next year.

Bannered by legendary Lydia de Vega-Mercado and Isidro del Prado, the Philippine squad cornered eight gold, nine silver and 12 bronze medals in the biennial meet in Manila, followed by another dominant performance of 11 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals in Singapore.

It was martial law era and presidential nephew Michael Keon was in control of Philippine sports. He was the spearhead of Project: Gintong Alay, the sports program that made the Philippines one of the best teams in Asia.

Patafa secretary general Renato Unso said a solid training program prompted them to emerge with such a masterful performance.

“We were housed in Baguio where we’re doing nothing but eat, sleep and train,” said Unso, who set the record in men’s 400-meter hurdles in 1983 before Cray smashed it in the Singapore SEA Games in 2015.

“We’re attending school in Baguio, but there was a memorandum of agreement between the Department of Education, Culture and Sport and Gintong Alay that our grades will be credited by our respective universities.”

“We were not distracted back then. We’re very focused on our training.”

Unso said they are now employing an identical program.

Save for Cray, Berram and Tabal and Obiena, who are both training in separate facilities in Italy, all of the country’s best athletes are housed at the Vermosa Sports Hub.

They will stay there for 45 days before testing their mettle in the Vietnam Open on July 27, putting them in condition by the time they compete in the Asian Games.

They also have a foreign coach in American Roshan Griffin, similar to the setup of the Gintong Alay when the 1972 Munich Olympics bidder Tony Benson of Australia called the shots.

“There are some similarities between the present program and that of the 1980s,” said Unso, adding that they have a good chance at winning one more gold after organizers added mixed relay to the calendar of events in the 30th biennial meet.

“With the help of our corporate sponsor, I hope we can sustain this program and relieve the glory we used to enjoy more than 30 years ago.”

“It’s difficult, but it’s very possible.”

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