Don't change what's not broken

With three gold medals and a 17th place position in the medal tally of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, I don’t see much reason to celebrate, but I am hoping that there won’t be much finger pointing when the athletes come home.

The country sent a lean delegation to Guangzhou and the gold medals in bowling, billiards, and boxing are not exactly bad although we could have hoped for more.

Gone are the days when the Philippines was a major sports power in Asia. Well, we have Manny Pacquiao, who has eight world boxing titles in eight weight categories, but we’re on the topic of multi-sports meets here and not just on one sport.

We have had major successes in billiards, but in the Asian Games where the athletes fight for gold and glory and not for several thousands of dollars, we came up short of the expectations.

We once were the lords of basketball, but this year the Philippine team lost to Korea in the quarterfinals.

We once ruled the boxing ring, but even in the Southeast Asian Games, we are having a hard time against Thailand. We can always claim to be getting the short hand in terms of officiating. Yeah, just like our elections, there are only the winners and those who were cheated.

If there is one thing wrong with Philippine sports, it is our lack of a program that is sustained no matter who is the president of the country or who is chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission.

We keep on changing things for the sake of change without giving programs that look quite promising a chance to mature.

Look at the recent boo-boo by the Department of Tourism changing the slogan to promote the country. It was an example of a new leadership changing something that was left by the past because they just want changes.

During the recent barangay elections, we saw many candidates screaming for change, but is that what we really need?

What could be the most successful sports development program in the country was the Gintong Alay that was ran by Michael Keon in the early 1980s. The program produced some of Asia’s best athletes like sprinter Lydia de Vega, jumper Elma Muros, middle distance runner Isidro del Prado, several swimmers including former PSC Chairman Eric Buhain, and lifters like our very own Ramon Solis and the late Jaime Sebastian.

Things have of course changed now. Other countries have spent more money for sports development while others took a shortcut by giving citizenships to top athletes from impoverished nations.

With the completion getting tougher, change might be imperative, but it has to be well thought of and not just spur of the moment actions for the heck of it.

There is hope for Philippine sports and I believe that PHL will someday reap its first official Olympic gold medal if we only do the right things and not keep on changing what is not broken.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings go to Maripaz Gerasta-Paw, who turns a year older today.

Advance birthday greetings to my mistah Jojo Andres, Toyota’s Belle Sarmiento, Merckh Fernandez, and artist Karl Roque, who are all celebrating tomorrow.

More power to all of you!

I would also like to ask our pious readers to say a prayer for the soul of my grandfather, Cipriano Rosal Quiñones, Sr., whose 9th death anniversary we commemorate today.