CEBU CITY, Philippines—Team Philippines chef de mission Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez lauded the Filipino athletes for the best Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) finish outside the Philippines since 1983 as the Vietnam edition officially wraps up on Monday, May 23, 2022, at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.
In a Facebook post on Sunday evening, Fernandez pointed out that the Philippines achieved the best finish in the medal standings in a SEA Games meet held outside the country since 1983.
In 1983, the Philippines finished second behind Indonesia in the Singapore SEA Games. Before the Philippines’ massive success in hosting the 2019 SEA Games, it finished sixth in the medal standings of the 2017 edition held in Malaysia.
The Philippines finished fourth this year with 52 gold medals along with 70 silvers and 104 bronze medals. The Philippines may have fallen short in its bid to place third overall, but Fernandez remains very proud of the Filipino athletes.
“We finished 4th place among 11 brother-countries in the region! This is our best finish since 1983 (when we placed second to Indonesia) in a SEA Games event outside the Philippines,” Fernandez said.
Vietnam topped the meet with a 205-125-116 (gold-silver-bronze) tally. Thailand finished second with a 92-103-136 haul while Indonesia placed third (69-91-81).
The Philippines nosed out erstwhile fourth placer Singapore after a four-gold medal haul in the final day. Singapore finished fifth with a 47-46-73 tally while Malaysia settled for sixth with a 39-45-90 haul.
“As Chef de Mission, I am truly very proud of this feat! Just as I thank each and every participant in the games, I also thank my Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) family headed by Chairman William Ramirez, for their all out support. To Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham Tolentino, maraming, maraming salamat po for giving me the honor to head the delegation. To my Deputy CDMs Pearl Managuelod, Carl Sambrano and to everyone who contributed one way or the other, daghang salamat! We fought as ONE. We won as ONE. We will forever be ONE HAPPY FAMILY in sports. Mabuhay ang Atletang Pilipino!,” said Fernandez in his post on Sunday evening.
In the final day of the meet, Filipino athletes added four more gold medals courtesy of Eumir Marcial (boxing 69-75kg), Ian Clark Bautista (boxing 52-57kg), Rogen Ladon (boxing 48-52kg), and Philip Delarmino (muay thaii combat 57kg).
The meet was delayed for months after it was moved from November last year to May due to the uptrend of the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam.
The Philippines sent 641 athletes who vied in 38 of 40 sporting events featured in the SEA Games. PSC shelled out P232 million for the Philippines’ participation in the SEA Games.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will lead the closing rites and will personally extinguish the SEA Games flame. The Southeast Asian Games Federation flag will likewise be lowered and handed over to the representative of Cambodia, which will host the 32nd SEA Games in May 2023.
/bmjo
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