Phl finishes 7th among 8 SEAG nations

INCHEON, South Korea – Turning in its worst finish in the Asian Games in 63 years, the Philippines also wound up seventh among eight Southeast Asian nations that competed in the Incheon Asiad, even surpassed by perennial SEA Games cellar-dweller Myanmar.

The Burmese won two golds in Incheon to go with one silver and one bronze, finishing at 20th, one rung ahead of Vietnam, which had one gold, 10 silvers and 25 bronzes, and two over the Philippines, which slumped to its worst Asian Games campaign with a 1-3-11 (gold-silver-bronze) haul.

The Philippines ranked sixth in the last Myanmar SEA Games.

It also placed 21st in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok with a 1-5-12 take for its previous worst.

Thailand, the perennial SEA Games champion after Indonesia’s slide from power since 1995, jumped to sixth overall with 12-7-28, which could have been better if not for perceived poor officiating in boxing and the martial arts where the host country was heavily favored.

Thailand was just six rungs behind China (151-108-83), Korea (79-71-84), Japan (47-76-77), Kazakhstan (28-23-33), and Iran (21-18-18).

In Southeast Asia’s honor roll were Malaysia at 14th (5-14-14), Singapore  at 15th (5-6-13), Indonesia 17th (4-5-11), Myanmar 20th (2-1-4), Vietnam 21st (1-10-25), Philippines 22nd (1-3-11) and Laos 33rd (1-2-3).

Meanwhile, the last athlete standing in the 157-member athletic contingent bowed out as early as the quarterfinal, denying the Philippines a medal in its farewell match in the quadrennial games.

Gay Mabel Arevalo was scoreless against Indonesia’s Sru Nita Sari Sukatendel who had two ippon and four yuko for an 8-0 victory that dropped the Filipina out of the medal round of the -80kg class of women’s karate.

The tally placing the Philippines at 22nd stood as it was the day before and only a gold medal could have improved its standing, ahead of Southeast Asian Games neighbors Myanmar and Vietnam.

A victory, however, wasn’t expected without the usual flag-waving from fellow Filipinos, most of them having already flown back to Manila and a handful left to attend the closing ceremonies of the 17th Asian Games.

At the end of 16 days of competition in 36 sports in this port city in the northwestern part of South Korea, the Philippines had only one gold to show, courtesy of Fil-American Danny Caluag, and three silver and 11 bronze medals.

The biggest letdown in the Philippines’ campaign was the failed bid of Gilas Pilipinas for the Asiad basketball crown, its chances stalled with a loss to Qatar in the first game of the quarterfinal and its last chance vanishing into thin air with its subsequent loss to eventual champion Korea and a two-point win over Kazakhstan where a minimum 10-point winning margin was needed to prevail in the tiebreak and advance to the semis.

Boxing was on course for a four-gold haul, which could have matched the association’s 1994 performance in Hiroshima but its best entries Ian Clark Bautista, Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga, Wilfredo Lopez, Mario Fernandez and Charly Suarez were halted on their way to the crown, all on rampant bad officiating, the worst in the history of the Games.