No love for sports

Dave Achondo

IS it just me or is there an extreme lack in the Philippines in terms of participation by the government in International and local sporting events especially with the Rio Olympics which by the way is just around the corner (Aug. 5)?

I really can’t put my finger on it because I am a bit annoyed by the fact that the Philippine boxing team is represented by only two people. I’m not saying they are not good; it’s just that there are 10 categories and we only managed to send two. That means a lesser chance for us to bring home a medal. For me, it’s the same way as saying, “Respitar nalang nga naay ni attend.”

So how can this country expect to end that 20 years of medal-drought in boxing with just two representatives? Are they blind to the fact that this country has so many aspiring boxers who are talented and skilled enough to represent the country?

Two decades ago, Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco lost a controversial fight against a Bulgarian boxer Daniel Bozhilov Petrov during the Atlanta Olympics back in 1996. In defeat, he still managed to bring pride to his country by bringing home a silver medal. After reviewing the fight on Youtube, I saw a clear understanding that the judges were either high or stupid to give the win to Petrov. Clearly, Onyok won that fight.

I may not be an expert in boxing, but I know Onyok threw a whole lot more punches and connected compared to his opponent who pretty much gave up on the last few remaining rounds.

History set aside, back to the issue at hand of how this country treats its athletes one things. For sure, based on my experience during my short stint in the Palarong Pambansa way back when I was a lad, we had the same problem: “budget/funding.” It really didn’t come as shock to me that we were short in representatives for the upcoming Olympics as the previous administration failed to set aside a proper budget for Rio Olympics. They have always done that.

The funny thing is when you’re still representing the country and haven’t won yet, they won’t even throw a party for you, but when you win, everybody just wants to get close to you and that’s a sad fact as if they were the ones who struggled to make the qualifying rounds.

This also applies to other competitions. You don’t believe me? Look up Pia Wurtzbach. Before she won Miss Universe, she came home to Cagayan de Oro. Her homecoming wasn’t grand you wouldn’t even see her making headlines with politicians, but when she won, well, every one wanted a piece of the action.

The future of the Philippines during the Olympics is pretty bleak; we have little or no representatives, no proper funding and solid support from the government.

But I do pin all my hopes on the new sports committee chairman in the Senate–neophyte Sen. Manny Pacquiao–that he will do his best to support upcoming international and local sports competitions and give proper funding for its athletes to train and make themselves better.

I guess we have to wait and see if he really deserves his post.