PHL triathletes finish 6th in mixed relay as Asiad curtain falls

JAKARTA – The Philippine triathlon team finished sixth in the mixed relay event on Sunday morning over in Palembang, typifying the fighting showing of the PHL contingent that churned out four gold-medal performances and narrowly missed what could have been the country’s best showing in the Asian Games in 56 long years.

Claire Adorna, John Chicano, Kim Mangrobang, and Mark Hosana teamed up in a strong showing that spoke well of Phl triathlon’s prospect of a continued dominance of its events in the Southeast Asian Games in Manila next year.

Adorna, Chicano, Mangrobang and Hosana outperformed their SEAG rivals but failed to make a dent on the East Asian super powers just as was the case in the overall medal race where China’s world-class athletes stamped their class on the opposition for a breakaway championship, winning 132 of 465 gold medals disputed in the games.

Chipping away some on the usual haul of China was Japan which halted South Korea’s streak of five second-place finishes in the quadrennial continental games starting in 1998 in Bangkok.

With a harvest of 75 gold, 92 silver and 65 bronze medals, Japan reemerged as runner-up to China – the first for the Japanese since beating the Koreans by one gold on their home soil in Hiroshima in 1994.

It could well be a prelude to a big coup Japan could pull in the 2020 Olympics set in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, the Philippines placed 19^th overall here, moving three notches up from its showing in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, but they still finished behind Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore heading to their SEA Games battle in Manila next year.

The Philippines had a medal harvest of 4-2-15 as against Indonesia’s 31-24-43, Thailand’s 11-14-46, Malaysia’s 7-13-16, Vietnam’s 4-16-18 and Singapore’s 4-4-14.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Ricky Vargas hoped the country’s silver and bronze medals here can be improved to gold in the SEA Games.

“The problem is that the other Southeast Asian teams also had their silver and bronze medals here,” said Vargas, admitting the country could have a hard time winning the overall championship even if it is the host of the 2019 SEA Games.

“We have to manage the events if we’re to have a chance to win – limit the events in sports that we don’t have a chance of winning,” he said.

Despite the country’s improvement in the Asian Games, Vargas realized “there are so many things that we still need to do.”

The Philippines did improve from its 22^nd ranking in the 17^th Asiad in Incheon where Filipino athletes were good only for one gold, three silver and 11 bronze medals. Thailand was the best SEAG team then with 12-7-28, followed by Malaysia (5-14-14), Singapore (5-6-14), Indonesia (4-5-11), Myanmar (2-1-1) and Vietnam (1-10-25).

Team Phl matched its four-gold outputs in 1978 in Bangkok and 2006 in Doha on the tremendous “woman power” that the country drawn here.

Skateboard champ Margie Didal stayed around and did the honors of carrying the country’s flag in the parade during the closing ceremonies at the Gelano Bung Karno Sports Stadium here last night.

Weightlifting queen Hidilyn Diaz and the triumphant golf team of Yuka Saso Bianca Pagdanganan and Lois Kaye Go have flown home, thus, missing the dramatic close of the event – the Olympics of Asia that will wait for four years to gather once again the continent’s best and finest athletes in a fortnight of sporting battles.

Asian Games’ next stop is Hangzhou in China in 2022.

Vargas hoped they would be able to do the needed reforms in Philippine sports for an even better showing in the Hangzhou Games.

In the second edition of the Asiad in this diverse country of 260 million people, the Philippines also cheered on the silver-medal showings of judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and boxer Rogen Ladon, and the bronze-winning efforts of Daniel Caluag in BMX, Margie Ochoa in ju-jitsu, Junna Tsukii in karate, Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial in boxing, Agatha Wong and Divine Wally in wushu, Almohaidib Abad, Dines Dumaan, Jefferson Rhey Loon and Cherry May Regalado in pencak silat, and Dustin Jacob Mella, Jeordan Dominguez, Rodolfo Reyes Jr., Pauline Lopez, Juvenile Faye Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto and Janna Dominique Oliva in taekwondo.