POC: Phl remains on track

BANGKOK, Thailand — The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is keeping that faith that Filipino athletes are going to deliver a deluge of medals in the last six days as competitions in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games hit the halfway mark.

The gold medals maybe coming in trickles in the first four days but POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino’s confidence remains high and blazing.

“We’ll get there, I’m confident and I trust our athletes to go all out in the next six days and get to our modest target,” said Tolentino, who, ahead of the games, looked at matching or surpassing at the very least the country’s 58 golds won in Cambodia in 2023.

The Philippines had 15 gold medals — with 23 silvers and an abundance of 52 bronze medals — on Sunday morning for sixth place on the medal tally board which host Thailand is dominating by ruling 96 of the 208 events completed so far in the games that end Saturday.

There are still 366 gold medals — out of the 574 total — that are to be won starting Sunday.

“On target? Yes, we are,” added Tolentino in a hoarse voice caused by his incessant cheering for Filipino athletes especially in the finals that are held in the chilly Thai evenings.

Indonesia stood at second place behind Thailand — which also had 60 and 39 silvers and bronzes respectively, on the medals board with 43-37 (silver-bronze) after Saturday night’s hostilities.

Vietnam, which ruled Cambodia 2023, ran fourth with 30-30-54, followed by Singapore with 19-19-and Malaysia with 2516-15-48, while Myanmar and Laos each has two golds while Brunei and Timor Leste have yet to win an event.