Last Pinoy bets settle for bronze

NAY PYI TAW – Team Philippines blew its chance to come up with a feel-good ending to an otherwise gloomy campaign in the 27th Southeast Asian Games, falling short of a golden finish in sepak takraw at the close of the multi-sport hostilities Sunday.

Men’s doubles crew Emmanuel Escote, Jason Hurte and Rhey Jhey Ortouste unleashed a spirited bid to cap Team Phl’s heartbreaking stint on a winning note but narrowly yielded a 1-2 setback to their semifinal rivals from Laos.

They thus settled for a bronze medal that accounted for Team Phl’s 38th after 11 days of action that culminated with a formal closing ceremony graced by Myanmar’s Vice President Thray Sithu Nyan Tun.

The Pinoy athletes wound up with 29 golds and 34 silvers, good only for seventh overall, their worst ever finish in the regional games.

The host Burmese captured the men’s doubles plum, putting the exclamation point on their wondrous second-place finish, their highest since landing third in 1979.

In terms of gold medals won, it was the third-worst finish ever for a Philippine contingent. Its 1999, the Phl won 20 in Brunei and the 1989 contingent to Kuala Lumpur only brought home 26. Those teams, however,  both finished fifth overall.

For the Philippines, whose previous worst finish in the standings was sixth during the Games’ 2007 and 2011 editions, there will be enough time for national sports officials to review their athletes’ performances here before coming up with a program to be implemented for the next meet.

Meantime, there should be appreciation for the 208 athletes who saw action in only 167 out of the 460 events here and either lived up to their favorites billing or defied the odds to provide the fight for their country.

Golfer Princess Superal and trackster Archand Christian Bagsit emerged as double gold medalists and athletics was the most productive with six gold medals, followed by taekwondo with four and boxing, and wushu three each.

The Filipinos were shut out in badminton, women’s basketball, canoeing, chess, equestrian, women’s football, pencak silat, sailing, sepak takraw, shooting, swimming, table tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling and was out of any podium finish in badminton, equestrian and women’s football.