AT last, the Philippines regained boxing supremacy in Southeast Asia (SEA) having collected a total of five gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes to emerge over-all champion in the 28th SEA Games boxing competition in Singapore Wednesday evening.
This year's medal haul surpassed the national boxing team's performance in the 2013 edition of the Games in Myanmar with three golds, two silvers and five bronzes.
The boxing finals was indeed a glorious moment for Philippine boxing as eight boxers fought their hearts out for the coveted gold and five of them, namely, women's lightweight Josie Gabuco, men's flyweight Ian Clark Bautista, men's bantamweight Mario Fernandez, men's lightweight JunelCantancio and men's welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial, coming out victorious while the other three were either denied or just fell short to claim the silvers.
Credit the sterling feats of our boxers to the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) chair Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) whose untiring support to the boxers go beyond the SEA Games or Asian Games as the PLDT chief executive has been bankrolling their foreign training and competitions, of course with some help from the Philippine Sports Commission, in a bid to qualify for the Olympics.
Boxing is a sport where the Philippines has high hopes to win an elusive Olympic gold. Congratulations as well to the hard-working coaching staff and all boxers whose gallantry and sportsmanship inside the ring made us all proud.
But the sight of our young and inexperienced divers being made a laughingstock in the SEA Games is just too painful to bear. Videos of two Filipino divers' performance, though notably very poor, were posted and even shared in social media sites, and fellow Filipinos even laugh at them. Come to think of it, these divers were made to compete in the SEA Games without proper training and support. They are even newbies.
Gone are the days of Philippine diving when the likes of Sheila Mae Perez, Ceseil Domenios, Rexel Ryan Fabriga, Zardo Domenios, Niño Carog and Jaime Asok, all from Davao City, dominated the SEA Games with Perez, Zardo and Fabriga even qualifying for the Olympics. They were handled by veteran Chinese coach Zhang Dehu. Politics in the national diving team killed the sport, a centerpiece event, and the hopes and dreams of young divers who also want to make their country proud.
If Perez and company are too old to compete, although they are still good for one or two more SEA Games, why not hire them to train the younger ones instead of rooting for so-so coaches. Davao City has a pool of promising divers but with the way our national diving officials are treating them now, what hope is left for Philippine diving?