Philippines unfazed by Vietnam’s hard-to-beat stance for SEA Games
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine delegation is unfazed as Vietnam puts up a hard-to-beat stance a month before the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, according to Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.
The Philippines will send a 656-strong delegation that will compete in 40 events for the biennial meet, which is slated from May 12 to 23.
“Our athletes will fight and will do their best to bring the overall championship back to the country,” said Tolentino from Cambodia where the SEA Games Council met face-to-face for the second time this year to discuss both Vietnam and 2023 Cambodia SEA Games.
As host, Vietnam will be fielding the biggest number of athletes at 965 athletes, 534 are men and 431 are women. The host country already made a bold prediction of winning 140 gold, 77 silver and 71 bronze medals, according to reports by Hanoi media.
Tolentino said he was confident that Filipino athletes would deliver because the majority of the 656-strong Team Philippines clinched medals in 2019 when the country dominated with a 149-117-121 (gold-silver-bronze) haul.
Vietnam finished second overall in the medal tally with a 98-85-105 (gold-silver-bronze) haul in the 2019 SEA Games here in the country.
The POC, Tolentino said, will release the composition of Team Philippines this week.
“Preparations by our athletes are peaking and the national sports associations, just like the POC, are focused at keeping the country’s strong position in the Games,” he said.
Tolentino deferred predicting the country’s potential haul in Vietnam though since the Philippines will send around half of the 1,115 athletes they fielded in during the 2019 SEA Games hosting.
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