Running away with an ambitious goal of winning eight gold medals will be the order of battle when Team Philippines joins the opening ceremony of the 20th Asian Games on Saturday night at the 30,000-seater Paloma Mizuhi Stadium in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture in Japan.

A total of 447 Filipino athletes from 34 sports bannered by Olympic double gold medalist Carlos Yulo of gymnastics, Asian Games record holder Ernest John Obiena of athletics, and world No. 18 Alex Eala of lawn tennis will be deployed to shoot for their second-highest gold medal production since the country joined this prestigious continental showpiece in 1951 in New Delhi.

Japan holds a special place in the hearts of Filipino athletes.

They had some very memorable finishes in the Land of the Rising Sun, especially when they won eight gold medals in the 1954 Tokyo Asian Games and when they sent a record of 524 athletes to the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994 in which they emerged with three gold, two silver and eight bronze medals.

But the Filipinos’ biggest victory on Japanese soil happened very recently when weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz captured the country’s first-ever gold medal in the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2022.

This time, the Philippine Olympic Committee is determined to make history anew with its president, Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino boldly declaring that the goal is to double their production in the two previous Asian Games editions in Hangzhou and Jakarta by winning eight gold medals.

“We’re all dreaming anyway, so let’s dream big and make it eight,” Tolentino told the national athletes, coaches, team managers and other Asian Games delegates during the ceremonial sendoff at Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila last week.

“Why eight? Break it down: Four from Palembang (Jakarta) and four from Hangzhou.”

Tolentino, however, didn’t elaborate on where the eight gold medals will come from and if the Filipino athletes are equipped to accomplish such an ambitious benchmark, especially with two wildly popular teams — Gilas Pilipinas and Alas Pilipinas — crashing out with days left before the opening ceremony.

Still, regardless of the target, the Filipino athletes are expected to march in the traditional parade of nations oozing with pride and confidence as they enjoy tremendous success in the past six years.

Olympian Aira Villegas of boxing and rising star Albert delos Santos of weightlifting will serve as flag bearers when the Filipinos march under the theme of “Harmonic Heart Beat” together with around 11,000 athletes from 44 other countries, making the event bigger than the Olympics.

It’s expected to be a huge celebration with no less than Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako as well as foreign dignitaries, including Philippine Sports Commission chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, in attendance to witness the festival of lights and sounds that will symbolize the unity and camaraderie among Asian neighbors through sports.

Villegas, a bronze medalist in the Paris Olympics in 2024, said she is truly honored to be chosen as flag bearer and to join the elite group of Obiena and Margielyn Didal in Hangzhou in 2023, Jordan Clarkson in Jakarta in 2018, and Gaylord Coveta in Incheon in 2014 as the most recent spearheads of the national delegation.

They will be wearing “Malaya,” a modern barong designed by prolific Filipino courtier Francis Libiran that features the colors of Philippine flag in Kalinga-inspired patterns.

Before the opening ceremony, the Philippine flag was officially hoisted at the Athletes Village on Thursday, signaling the Filipinos’ formal arrival and readiness to compete for pride and glory.

Filipino athletes arrived in batches with the cagers, booters, volleybelles, gymnasts, pentathletes, and soft tennis players arriving first, while the bulk of the delegates, including those from athletics, aquatics, cycling, karate, shooting, triathlon, wushu, sepak takraw, baseball, and surfing, followed shortly, just in time for the opening-day festivities.