Philippines and the 2012 Olympics

Here are this year's Philippine Olympic team:

Athlete	Gender	Sport	Event
Mark Javier	M	Archery	Men's Individual
Rachel Cabral	W	Archery	Women's Individual
Rene Herrrera	M	Athletics	3000 m Steeplechase
Marestella Torres	W	Athletics	Long Jump
Mark Barriga	M	Boxing	LIghtflyweight
Daniel Caluag	M	Cycling	Men's BMX
Tomohiko Hoshina	M	Judo	Men's +100 kg.
Brian Rosario	M	Shooting	Skeet
Jessie Khing Lacuna	M	Swimming	200 m freestyle
Jasmine Alkhaldi	W	Swimming	100 m freestyle
Hidilyn Diaz	W	Weightlifting	Women's -58 kg

The Olympic hopes of the Philippines are in the shoulders of the 11 who luckily made it to the 2012 Olympics. Well, the Philippines have been shut out in the last 3 Olympics. The last medal that we earned was Onyok Velasco's silver in 1996.  That has been 16 years already. 

The new generation knows Onyok as Manny Pacquiao's sidekick in GMA 7 shows.  They would probably never believe when I will say that he is an olympic silver medallist. What are our chances this year? Probably very low just like the last 3 editions. 

In the past our best sports were boxing and taekwondo.  Do you know, how many boxers and jins that made it to London. Only one. Mark Barriga qualified to the Olympics not by winning the World Championship but as a lucky loser. He was lucky that the one who eliminated him won the Gold. 

What has happened to our sports program? Did we sink so low that nobody even cares about the Olympics. Are we too star struck with our newly football stars that we forgot other sports? Are we still dreaming an Olympic basketball gold?  We have 95 million Filipinos and we cannot even win one Olympic gold medal. Times are tough, gone are the days that we send a real contingent to the Olympics. Now we are just sending a very small squad. Lean and mean...more of really lean.

Hopefully, these 11 Filipino Olympians will prove me wrong and win some medals.  I want them surprise us in London so that the Olympic spirit will be rekindled in the country.  I would be embarrassed though if I see more junketeers going to London than the 11 athletes. I do not mind to see referees and sports officials but if our taxes are made to be for people who are just their for a "free" ride then I'd rather see them at least compete their or shout their hearts out for our athletes and not those stars from other countries.

Go Pinas!! Surprise us....please. 

Josie Gabuco wins gold in World Championships but PHL has only one boxer in the 2012 Olympics

Josie Gabuco gave the country its first ever World Championship boxing gold. She won light-flyweight gold medal in the 2012 AIBA Women's Boxing World Championships. Her golden effort though did not merit the country an olympic berth since her weight class is not included in the olympic line-up. With months before the 2012 London Games, the Philippines will be sending just one boxer in this years olympics.

1? Uno? Isa? Usa? From an Asian superpower, the Philippines is slowly being relegated to the bottom in amateur boxing. Can you believe it? It does not come as a surprise though as our best bets go pro early. Instead of dreaming of a gold medal, many dreamed to be the next Manny Pacquiao instead. How much does an amateur boxer even earn nowadays?

The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines has Manny Pangilinan as its Godfather. Money is supposedly not an issue anymore. Change may not be overnight but we have losing our best amateur fighters to the pros.  Their should be a program that will develop a future boxing team ala Smart Gilas. Although, it is not good to use the Gilas as an example because its core are now in the PBA. 

The ABAP should form a team in age groups and they should be trained by the best coaches available. They can even ask Freddie Roach to do some drills. We used to have Cuban coaches, now we simply rely on our home-grown coaches.  I am not saying that we are inferior but the results are showing how we are doing against our neighbors.  Thailand is not scared of us anymore. China, India, and even Middle-Eastern teams are on the rise. We should start upgrading our training and coaching.

Maybe it would be a good idea to form a team  in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) this early. I am sure MVP can afford it. We have to expose our boxers with tough competitions all year round or else it will take us another 20 years to see another Onyok Velasco. 

Boxing maybe a very dangerous sport and it cannot even be encouraged in schools but it is still the sport that we have the biggest chance of a gold medal in the olympics. Let us just start praying that Barriga will get the gold in London to inspire our budding fighters to stay amateur. ;)

Links:
Gabuco wins Gold
Million Peso Baby
Overweight Mexican Boxers
Jaro is a world champion

FIBA Asia Championships: the good things about 4th place

News: Korea beats the Philippines

The 2012 Olympic dream for the Smart-Gilas is over and the 4th place finish is actually one of our best finishes in recent years. Here is some good things that I think of after the loss.

1. Manny V. Pangilinan or MVP will be able to save up some money for other sports and charity. If the Gilas won then he would have to bankroll the Gilas' campaign in a tougher Olympic qualifier. He can use the money to pay for the boxers and the taekwondo jins who could have better shot of an olympic medal than the basketball team. He can even use the money to buy an NBA team. ;)

2. We lost to a familiar foe. Korea and the Philippines are evenly matched but it seems that we are cursed against those Koreans. We seem to lose in the final minutes of the game. At least, there was nothing new about the game. I was at the edge of my seat watching the 3rd place battle on TV with Olsen "Crying" Racela being the color commentator. Of all the people that they chose, why him? I'm sure Olsen was crushed watching a heartbreaker do over.

3. It is gonna be an exciting PBA season. The Gilas draftees will surely crowd the PBA rookie of the Year race (if they are considered rookies).

4. Respect. Somehow we got the respect of our Asian neighbors now. They cannot take us lightly once we learn how to win in crunchtime then they better be ready to bow to the future brown kings of Asian basketball soon.

5. National team formula. Our system is working and coach Toroman has elevated our standards. I hope that the Iranians will not try to snatch him back. We probably have the best center in Asia performance-wise. We just need to surround him with a mix of pros and trainee amateurs. Slaughter, Ravena, and Parks should be integrated to Gilas as early as next year. We need to have a new Alapag (a fast PG who is a dead-eye in the 3 point region). If only Alapag was 3 inches taller..hehehe.

It is sad but basketball is still the No.1 team sport in the country. No offense to football but we are No.4 in Asia in this sport. We just can't give up this slot for a sport where we are just No.4 in Southeast-Asia.  The future of Philippine basketball might not be as rosy but the Gilas program should be continued and we should stop the habit of rebuilding often. We have to add on to the Gilas and hopefully the PBA and MVP's rival San Miguel will help.

Gilas bow to Iran in Jones Cup semis

The Smart-Gils lost its semifinals match-up in the 33rd William Jones Cup against Middle Eastern power Iran, 59-78.  The Iranians totally dominated the inside and nobody in the Philippine line-up can contain NBA Veteran Hamad Haddadi who almost outscored the whole Philippine team at one point. He finished with 36 points.

Well, a different kind of Iranian team faced the Smart-Gilas this time. The Gilas were playing minus JV Casio who has been their main sniper in the tournament. His absence was visible and the replacements were ineffective. Douhit and the other big guys were having a hard time guarding Hadadi.

So, what does this mean? Not much, I guess. The real battle will be next month but the signs are not good. The lack of height and heft will really show in the big games. The Gilas will be eaten alive inside. Douhit is passable but after him? How can we improve in a month? Will Kelly Williams help? A little perhaps.

It is also annoying to see that players like Slaughter are getting ticky-tacky calls that will not be called in events like Fiba Asia. We have to toughen up our biggies as early as college. If the Philippines want to succeed, they have to discourage centers or power forwards who look like who is on a diet. Lanky dudes are good for modeling but for tough games, they should put a minimum playing weight for our guys. Hire people like Alex Ariza to teach speed with the added weight. I am sure we can create better big men in the future.

As for the 2012 Olympic Dreams, it is the time to show the world the power of prayers. ;)