By REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – Incredible feats of athleticism that saw several underdogs beating the powerhouses – not to mention the breathtaking opening ceremony unfolded before everyone’s eyes during the 19-day saga in the Asian Games held in various magnificent venues here.
But for millions of Filipino fans, the 19th edition of the continental showpiece will be best remembered for one thing.
The victory of the men’s basketball team.
Although pole vault ace EJ Obiena also lived up to his lofty billing and a pair of jiu-jitsu stars – Margarita “Meggie” Ochoa and Annie Ramirez – pulled off stunning wins, Gilas’ 70-60 win over Jordan on Friday stood out as one of the biggest wins in the quadrennial sporting spectacle that ended with another spectacular closing ceremony on Sunday, Oct. 8 at the imposing Hangzhou Olympic stadium.
That’s because it was a historic one that it sparked fiesta-like celebrations back home and satisfied the hunger of every Filipino for greatness – even only at Asian level – as it came 61 years since the last time a PH team thrilled the whole nation after winning basketball gold.
As everyone knows, basketball is closest to the hearts of Filipinos.
So it was the gold that mattered the most – not to discount the record-shattering win by Obiena in pole vault in which he was installed the heavy favorite being ranked No. 2 in the world.
But for a Gilas team formed barely two weeks before the official opening of the Games last Sept. 23, its victory against all odds was one for the books.
The Nationals slipped past Iran in the quarters before toppling the so-called Great Wall of China on the way to the Promised Land, a feat worth a thousand golds according to Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
“It’s still a very, very good finish, better than all our previous Asian Games because of our victory in basketball,” Tolentino said. “We had four golds, an Asian Games record from Obiena and two from jiu-jitsu, replacing the two that we lost in women’s golf.”
He added: “We finished 17th overall and that’s another accomplishment. Let’s look at the final placing and not the number of medals.”
Even the loss of world champion Junna Tsukii, the country’s last medal hopeful, in the final day failed to dampen the atmosphere that began to change for the better following Obiena’s record win on Sept. 30.
Tsukii broke down in tears once again when she absorbed a stinging 3-2 loss to Cambodian Srey Phea Chonn in the women’s 50kg class at the Linping Sports Centre Stadium.
“Medal or no medal, the Philippine Sports Commission will always do its best to show its unwavering support to all our athletes carrying the Philippine flag,” said PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann, as he cheered Tsukii.
“Yung presence ni Chairman dito sa last game natin means a lot, not just for us in karate, but to every athlete for sure. This just goes to show that there is sincerity and concern coming from the PSC para sa amin from start to finish,” said Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation, Inc. (KPSFI) President Richard Lim.
Overall, Team PH finished 18th, one rung better than its showing five years ago in Jakarta, Indonesia with 4 gold, 2 silver and 12 bronze medals.
But in terms of medals, Team PH fell three bronze medals short after tallying 4-2-15 the last time.
Team PH could have won its fifth gold but boxer Eumir Marcial lost to a Chinese bet.
Among the South East Asian countries, Team PH wound up fourth best Thailand finished 8th overall with 12-14-32 tally followed by Indonesia at 13th with 7-11-18 and Malaysia at 14th with 6-8-18.
Host nation, as expected, dominated the Games for the 11th straight time with 201 gold, 111 silver and 71 bronze medals followed by Japan with (52-67-69), South Korea (42-59-89), India (28-38-41), Uzbekistan (22-18-31) and Chinese-Taipei (19-20-28).
Also credit Team PH’s memorable performance to the jiu-jitsu team which emerged as the country’s top medal performance with two gold and 1 bronze medals, followed by wushu with 1 silver and 3 bronze medals with Arnel Mandal taking home the silver.
Alex Eala also embellished her status as one of Asia’s rising stars with a double-bronze performance – one in singles event and the other in mixed doubles with Francis Alcantara.
Another surprise was the sepak takraw squads which also collected two bronze medals courtesy of
Taekwondo, karate, cycling and weightlifting produced a bronze medal each through poomsae star Patrick King Perez,Sakura Alforte, Patrick Bren Coo and Elreen Ann Ando.
