Julian Camacho, chief of mission to the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, believes combat sports will deliver as the country aims to improve on its 1-3-11 (gold-silver-bronze) haul four years ago in Korea.
“I have a strong feeling that we will perform much better this time because of combat sports,” Camacho said yesterday, noting that apart from the traditional sources, boxing and taekwondo, jujitsu promises to make heads turn alongside wushu.
Of course, Camacho is not discounting the plans being undertaken by other sports, most especially athletics, whose buildup is already underway.
To set the stage for the kickoff of the athletes’s preparation via local and overseas training and participation in foreign tournaments, Camacho insists that a secretariat should already be in place and already functional by the end of the year.
“So we can already see the progress of the NSAs’ training and schedule,” added the long-time wushu and Philippine Olympic Committee official.
There will be 431 events in 40 sports that will simultaneously be staged in the capital city of Jakarta and backup host Palembang. Two other satellite cities have been tapped to hold select sports as Indonesia aims to prove that it can host the quadrennial sportsfest better even if it entered the scene only a few years ago.