FOR the first time in many years, athletics’ brash and controversial top brass Go Teng Kok, a.k.a. GTK, would be absent from the track-and-field competitions of the 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games formally opening on Friday in the city-state of Singapore.
GTK recently left the sport he loved with a heavy heart, grudgingly turning over the reins of the Philippine Track and Field Association (Patafa) after employing elaborate fictions to conceal the pain of his self-imposed retirement.
Mr. Go, or Teng Kok, was probably the most loved and the most hated man in sports. He was nice, maybe too nice, easy to like, maybe too easy to like, and easy to understand, maybe too easy to understand.
The crowd relished in his irreverence, his coarse and salty talks, and his fearless forecasts that were always peppered with strong ribald oaths, and completely man’s talk, especially when he cursed his mortal foes.
That was Go Teng Kok, athletics’ enfant terrible, who was debased and profaned in his mouth. Getting mired in a controversy was another trait for the too frank, too honest and too generous man, even to a fault.
When he was asked to fill up the huge void left by the late Gov. Jose Sering of Surigao, even the cynics swore that Go Teng Kok was the tonic needed to sustain the gains achieved by the country in track and field.
The pretenders booed, but GTK showed signs of righteousness, tenacity and strength of character. He was misunderstood as mean when in reality he was, in fact, a true gentleman, who gamely yielded to reason.
“My life is an open book,” he would brag every time the myth of his checkered past is retold and rehashed by his strident foes. “I’m not hiding anything. I can face anybody, anytime, anywhere. I am ready.”
Sports would miss the man in immaculate white Armani pants and matching long sleeves, shiny Gucci shoes, Cartier eyeglasses and diamonds-studded Rolex gold because in his company, there were more laughs than heartaches.
The new Patafa chief is GTK’s old friend, Philip Ella Juico, whose romance with sports is built over generations that on the day he took his proper place in track and field he did not blink to predict a harvest of 12 gold medals in the Games.
I love bold predictions. They are the stuff that great men are made of. In fact, Juico’s forecast is not surprising at all. The touted Philippine athletics squad, no thanks to the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, is powered by Fil-foreign super heroes.
Olympic qualifier hurdler Eric Shawn Cray banners the 36-member team whose collective bid is to establish a new record harvest of gold medals in the centerpiece attraction of the 11-nation sports competitions.
Born in Olongapo City, Cray clocked the fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles this year at 49.12 seconds, better than the 49.76 seconds SEA Games record of Chanon Keanchen of Thailand.
That performance installed him at the No. 7 spot in the International Association of Athletic Federations World Rankings to give the country an automatic slot for the first time in decades in the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Nicknamed “Man Mountain,” Caleb Stuart, a hunk at 1.8 meters and 133 kilos, is the most exciting thrower since the legendary Fil-Mexican Josephine de la Vina, who finished 11th in the 1968 Mexico Olympics.
The 24-year-old Stuart, a California native of a Filipina mother, set his personal-best record of 68.66 meters in the hammer throw only in March, 6 meters beyond the SEAG mark of 62.23 meters by Thailand’s Tantiphong Phetchaiya.
Stuart also excels in his secondary event in the shot put, where he heaved the iron ball to a personal best of 17.88 meters last July, away from the SEAG mark of 17.64 meters set by another Thai, Chatchawal Polyiam.
The powerhouse armada also features pole-vault ace Ernest John Obiena, who leapt to a career best 5.25 meters in the last Busan meet, a heartbeat higher than the 5.24 SEAG mark of Thai Kreetha Sintacheewa.
A promising talent to watch is 17-year-old sprinter Kayla Richardson, whose mom is from Zamboanga City. She clocked the best time this year in the 100 meters at 11.65 seconds, faster than the 11.74 seconds gold-medal effort of Wanakit of Thailand.
Kayla will team up with twin sister Kyla Richardson in anchoring a powerful 4×100-meter Philippine relay squad that also features Bacolod City lass Princes Joy Griffey and the multitalented long-jumper Katherine Khay Santos.
It was in 1983 when the Filipinos captured their largest haul of 12 gold medals, led by crowd darling Lydia de Vega, hurdlers Agrifina de la Cruz and Renato Unso, long-jumper Elma Muros and quarter miler Isidro del Prado, among others.
De Vega, who became Asia’s fastest woman, was the perfect thing in human locomotion, running not on the track but over the top of it, and wheeling like a bird in flight to please the eyes of the gallery.
As hostilities shift into high gear today, the team was reported to be in high spirit, unfazed by the expectations and motivated by an outpouring of corporate sponsorship to display their best wares in the Games.
Also favored to win are middle distance specialist Archand Bagsit, anchor of the 4×400-meter squad, decathlete Jeeson Cid, steeplechaser Christopher Ulboc, long-jumpers Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres, marathoner Eduardo Buenavista and Olympian Rene Herrera.
Others are Edgardo Alejan, Junrey Bano, Mervic Guarte, Patrick Unso, Wenlie Maulas, Rafael Poliquit, Clinton Bautista, Ryan Bigyan, Joan Caido, Janry Ubas, Roldan Verano, Mark Diones, Donovant Ariola,Tyler Ruiz, Narcisa Atienza, Rosie Villarito, Riezel Buenaventura, Evalyn Palabrica, Mary Grace de los Santos, Mary Joy Tabal and Jessica Barnard.
But early news pointed to a slew of monumental and heartbreaking losses suffered by the 466-member Philippine contingent, one of the biggest overseas delegations to the regional meet since 1977 in Kuala Lumpur.
The women’s netball team figured in the first human tragedy, absorbing a 112-11 thrashing at the hands of Malaysia in the wake of another humiliation, a 62-22 defeat against Thailand in its maiden appearance.
The Under-23 football squad also dropped a narrow 1-0 setback to the host team, providing a gloomy start to a campaign that was already portrayed a long time ago by Filipino sports officials as a low-decibel experience.
Social media tweet with sarcastic “Very Low Target” headlines in a slur to the guarded prediction of PSC Chairman Ritchie Garcia, who confused himself by saying that with better preparations and a P38.5-million budget, the Filipinos could only do much.
Much? That’s mediocrity, plain and simple, to best describe Garcia’s miserable target of surpassing the 29-gold medal harvest in Myanmar that saw the Philippines plummeting to its worst finish at seventh place in history.
Money, public funds for that matter, should be well spent. Unknown to Garcia, aside from athletics, the Filipinos are also expected to produce more winners in boxing, billiards, basketball, bowling, cycling, golf, gymnastics, taekwondo and wushu.
Four years ago in Lao PDR, “GTK’s Army” claimed the country’s biggest haul of seven gold medals. Again, athletics, that carries the trademark of Greek civilization, is poised to stand godfather to the country’s gold-medal hopes this time.
1 comment
I have to disagree fully Mr. Roquero. The PSC and POC were very active in helping the PATAFA scout and discover talents such as Cray, Richardson and Stuart as well as others even before i was working for the PSC. I have hundreds of emails to prove this. As well as this the PSC gave a large budget to the PATAFA compared to other NSAs and compared to previous years. PSC established good grass roots the PNG, Batang Pinoy Program and partnered with PATAFA for the weekly relays.
The PATAFA has been working well with the PSC this past few years under its new leadership.