By Nick Giongco
As the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors set a gold medal target, the Philippines remains tight-lipped on its goal in the Asian Games that gets going next month in Indonesia.
Thailand is eyeing to better its 12 gold medal haul four years ago in Incheon, claiming that athletes from the Kingdom are capable of winning as much as 20 during the Aug. 20- Sept. 2 sportsfest in Jakarta and Palembang.
These golds would most likely come from sepak takraw, weightlifting, taekwondo, boxing, badminton, sailing and golf, according to Thai sports officials.
Vietnam, which, like the Philippines went home from Korea with just a gold to show, is looking at bagging 3-5 golds with athletics, swimming, weightlifting, gymnastics, shooting, sepak takraw, cycling, fencing, and martial arts, such as pencak silat, karate, and taekwondo, as potential contributors.
Host Indonesia has also joined the fray with a mission of landing in the top 10 with 15 golds to celebrate its first hosting of the Asiad in almost 60 years.
The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) has urged the various NSAs to close ranks with president Ricky Vargas expressing his burning desire to do better than the country’s 22nd finish by landing 15th place this time.
Aside from boxing, other probable sources of golds are jujitsu and judo, adding that NSA leaders have been tasked to instill to their athletes the winning attitude needed to make them go the extra mile.
