Myanmar Games unfolds Wednesday: Wushu artists open Phl SEAG mission

NAYPYITAW – The wushu experts, missing the services of Filipino ultimate fighter Eduard Folayang, begin the war of attrition in the martial arts, now the main battleground where Filipinos hope to win majority of a projected 25-gold medal haul at the start of wushu competitions today, four days before the formal opening rites of the 27th Southeast Asian Games  here.

Jessie Aligaga, gold medalist in the 2012 Sanda (Sanshou)  Wushu World Cup and silver medalist in the 2013 World Wushu Championships, guns for the gold in the 48kg category of the sanshou (combat) events. Divine Wally, silver medalist in last year’s Asian Junior Championships, fights in the distaff side in the same division of the wushu competitions at the Theikdi Indoor Stadium in the new city of Naypyitaw, main hub of the 12-day, 11-nation biennial conclave.

Aligaga and Wally loom as the country’s best wushu bets for the gold but they will have their hands full against powerhouse Vietnam and perennial contenders Indonesia, Malaysia and host Myanmar, which aims to dislodge the Philippines at sixth place behind Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore.

The Games will not formally open until Dec. 11 but even before all the athletes could take their residence at the Athletes Village, the 210-member Philippine camp had already consigned itself to the middle of the rankings following the exclusion of some Olympic and Asian Games events and the inclusion of indigenous sports unknown to Filipinos.

The exclusion of softball and baseball, lawn tennis and some events in billiards greatly reduced the overall gold medal output of the Philippines which already placed an embarrassing sixth with 36 gold medals in the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia.

Majority of the new national pool of athletes did not pass the criteria of the Philippine Sports Commission-Philippine Olympic Committee task force, resulting in a lean contingent, one of the smallest ever sent by the country to the biennial meet.

The Philippine contingent is now looking at no more than 25 gold medals out of 460 golds staked in 33 sports in four sports venues – Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon, Mandalay and Ngwe Saung.

The absence of Grandmaster Wesley So, who will not compete in the international rapid and blitz chess, and the last-minute withdrawal of boxing gold medal hopeful Charly Suarez who had a shoulder injury in training, effectively reduced the projected haul by three.

The Philippine camp will now rely on the martial arts veterans in boxing, pencak silat, wushu, wrestling,  judo, karatedo and taekwondo to boost other efforts in basketball, athletics, billiards and snooker, cycling, golf and rowing.

Aside from Aligaga and Wally, also competing in sanshou are Francisco Solis (men’s 56 kg)  and Evita Elise Zamora (women’s 52 kg). John Keithley Chan, Norlene Ardee Catolico, Daniel Parantac, Kariza Kris Chan and Natasha Enriquez will be competing in taolu (form) events.

The wushu athletes will be vying in 10 of the 18 events in the sport.

Also competing before the formal opening of the Games are athletes in the preliminaries of boxing, basketball, wrestling, pencack silat, women’s football, sepak takraw, canoe cayak, equestrian, shooting and cycling.

Wushu Federation Philippines secretary general Julian Camacho is confident about the chances of his wards today.

“We have a world champion in Jessie. Though Divine (Wally) is a rookie, she’s tough and strong, so we have a good chance in the 48kg,” said Camacho, whose wards trained in China in preparation for the SEA Games.

Philippine chef de mission Jeff Tamayo is also banking on wushu to kick off the country’s campaign on a high note.

“The SEA Games is unique in a sense that we now focus on martial arts. Our medals will come from these sports. We made several changes in the line-up of martial arts to better our chances for a gold,” said Tamayo.

Camacho is also confident that the Philippines will be able to surpass its two-gold showing in the last SEA Games in Indonesia two years ago.

“Our order to our athletes is to win the gold, nothing less. We are predicting a minimum of three to five in wushu,” he said.