No good: RP stint in Beach Games 'poor', sports leader says

MANILA, Philippines - The country's sports leadership gave a failing mark to the Nationals' performance in the recently concluded Asian Beach Games, an entirely different remark to the one made by the RP officials present in the Bali tourney. "Officials who joined the trip must give us a written explanation as to why this [poor performance] has happened," Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez said Monday. At the close of the games in the weekend, chief of mission Vincent Piccio lauded the team's showing. "This is a good showing for us. We did our best," Piccio said. Ramirez assailed the country's finish, a paltry seventh among Southeast Asian nations. Games host Indonesia finished with a massive haul of 23-8-20 gold-silver bronze, followed by runner-up Thailand with a 10-17-10 harvest. Vietnam ranked eighth with a 2-5-3 count, followed by Myanmar (ninth, 2-3-0); Malaysia (10th, 2-2-6); and Singapore (17th, 1-0-2). Brunei, which finished with two silvers and three bronzes, finished a rank lower than the Philippines. Overall, the country finished with two silvers and eight bronzes to place 21st overall and total 10 medals. The PSC did not allot a budget for the Games because it was not a priority but did so anyway because the participating national federations said it was part of the preparations for the SEA Games next year. "While the beach games were held for the first time, the Philippines is not new in terms of participating in international competition. But we finished lower than teams we beat in previous SEA Games," Ramirez said. Ramirez said the dismal outcome was an "eye-opener". "We will be firm in sending only athletes or teams who have good chances of winning medals," he said. "If the federation feel they can win but could not meet the criteria, they can compete and should they win, then that's the time we will refund them with their expenses." - GMANews.TV