Strong finish

We made sure that everything would be provided as far as our quest for the overall title is concerned.

ARIES Toledo delivered a strong finishing kick for Team Philippines in the athletics competition of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. DAVID JOHN CUBANGBANG @tribunephl_dvd

The results of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games paint a very encouraging picture of the country’s chances in the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Olympic hopefuls like Carlos Yulo of gymnastics, EJ Obiena and Kristina Knott of athletics, Kim Mangrobang of triathlon, Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting, Kiyomi Watanabe of judo, Samuel Morisson and Pauline Lopez of taekwondo, Felix Eumir Marcial and Nesthy Petecio of boxing and other rising stars in various fronts all submitted impressive performances as the prestigious biennial meet formally came to a close Wednesday at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.

The Philippines shut down its campaign with its second overall title of 149 gold, 118 silver and 120 bronze medals, a historic feat considering that this edition is the biggest ever in the history of the biennial meet.

The next host — Vietnam — was way behind with 96 gold medals while perennial champion Thailand and Indonesia were in the third and fourth spots with 92 and 72 gold medals, respectively.

Chief of mission and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said the victory didn’t come as a surprise as they poured generous amount of government resources to make sure that the country’s participation will be a massive success.

For one, the PSC spent over P1.5 billion to fund the training and exposure of national athletes to various foreign destinations. Elite athletes, especially the Olympic hopefuls, definitely got more as the PSC made sure that everything would be covered from sports psychologists, nutritionists to masseuse.

Aside from that, the PSC also used the P850-million grant from the Philppine Amusement and Gaming Corporation to refurbish government sports facilities like the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Philsports Arena and Teachers Camp in Baguio City.

“We made sure that everything would be provided as far as our quest for the overall title is concerned,” said Ramirez, who is also the chief of mission when the country won its first overall crown in 2005.

The athletes didn’t let the government down.

Mangrobang kicked off the golden harvest with an impressive performance in triathlon while Yulo returned to his training ground at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum to emerged as the most successful Filipino athlete in this edition of the biennial meet with two gold and five silver medals in men’s artistic gymnastics.

Obiena and Knott also made their presence felt.

Obiena, the first Filipino to make it to the Tokyo Games, finally overcame his gritty Thai rival, Parranot Purahong, when he registered a record-breaking 5.45 meters in the men’s pole vault event.

Although it was still far from his personal best 5.81 meters that he set in a tournament in Chiara, Italy, it was still enough to give him his very first SEA Games gold medal.

Prior to that, Knott set the track on fire as she tallied 23.07 seconds in the women’s 200-meter run.

The clocking fell short of the Olympic-qualifying time of 22.80 seconds, but it was still good enough to shatter the existing SEA Games record of 23.30 seconds of Supavadee Khawpaeg of Thailand and the Philippine record of 23.32 seconds tallied by Filipino-American Zion Corrales-Nelson few months back.

“I don’t worry about surpassing the Olympic qualifying record. I still have until June to do that,” said the Filipino-American Knott, vowing to work hard to punch a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.

Diaz, the silver medalist in the previous Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, also asserted her dominance.

She successfully lifted a total of 211kg in the women’s 55kg category, giving her a lot of confidence as she campaigned in two more Olympic qualifying tournaments early next year.

Of course, Watanabe, Morisson and Lopez also displayed their Olympic forms.

Watanabe made short work of Cha Myat No of Myanmar to win her fourth straight title in the women’s -63kg class of judo while Morrison and Lopez reigned supreme in the men’s -80kg and women’s -57kg categories in taekwondo, respectively.

Marcial and Petecio also have bright chances in the Olympics.

Marcial, an Asian champion, had an easy time clobbering his foes in the men’s middleweight division while Petecio, a world champion, asserted her dominance in the women’s featherweight in boxing, which would be managed by an International Olympic Committee-assembled body in the Summer Games while the International Boxing Association cleans its house.

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham Tolentino stressed that the athletes showed that they are truly ready for the Olympics.

“I am really overwhelmed by the performance of our athletes in the 30th SEA Games,” said Tolentino, who was the first to predict an overall title after serving as Sports and Rules chairman of the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee.

“But this is just the beginning. I see better things ahead for Philippine sports. And the POC will partner with both the government and private sector to make it happen.”