By REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – He was not fortunate enough in his gold medal fight on Thursday, Sept. 28, but wushu sanda warrior Arnel Mandal would earn a fortune big enough to satisfy his family needs when he returns to Manila soon.
For winning the country’s first silver medal in the 19th Asian Games, the pride of Iloilo City stands to receive P1 million bonus from the Philippines Sports Commission as mandated under Republic Act 10699.
For short, he would become an instant millionaire.
Well, that’s the fruit of all his sacrifices, including the extended time he spent at the gym to further sharpen his skills going into the continental showpiece despite little mention of his name as one of the country’s top medal hopefuls.
If that is the exciting part – getting P1 million from the PSC – the added thrill is getting additional financial bonus from the Philippine Olympic Committee itself.
There’s no detail yet for the silver medal winner but POC President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino had earlier promised to give additional P1 million to a gold medal winner.
A gold medal winner in the grandest sporting spectacle in this part of the globe shall receive P2 million with the bronze medalist taking a P400,000,
Had Mandal beat Chinese Jiang Haidong in their gold medal bout in the men’s 56kg class, he could have won a whopping P3 million reward.
Apart from the PSC and POC, a windfall from his province awaits Mandal – not to mention the perks from other generous sponsors.
But for a true combat artist like him, money or financial reward is not much of importance to him but to fight for the country’s color at the highest level is.
“Masayang-masaya ako at nakapagbigay uli ako ng karangalan sa ating bansa,” said Mandal. “Lahat naman ay ginawa ko pero hindi lang po ako pinalad.”
Well, a silver medal is already a big fortune.
