Veterans to lead RP shooters' gold medal hunt in Laos

Veterans Nathaniel "Tac" Padilla and Emerito Concepcion fire off the Philippine shooting team’s campaign in the 25th Southeast Asian Games at the National Sports Complex Shooting Range in Vientiane, Laos. In his 16th straight stint in the region’s biggest sporting meet, the 44-year-old Padilla leads the individual and team sides of the 25m standard pistol, while the 47-year old Concepcion, who represented the country in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, shoots his way in the 10m air rifle.

With Padilla in the 25m standard pistol team are Robert Donalvo and Ronald Hejastro. "May laban naman tayo," admitted coach Reuben Hermoso of the Filipino shooters’ bid for the three gold medals at stake Thursday. "There are other factors, but as long as our shooters perform the way they did in our preparations, then our chances are better than good," he added. Taking their turns in the next eight days of the meet are Carolino Gonzalez, Shanin Gonzales, Mica Padilla, Eddie Tomas, Rocky Pardilla, Ruth Ricardo and Edwin Fernandez. The RP shooting team failed to win a gold medal in its last SEA Games campaign in Korat, Thailand. Hermoso hopes the Filipinos will be able to win one this time since the shooters’ chances are as good as the rest of the field. "Shooting is a measurable sport and the scores are treated objectively, so theoretically, all have equal chances for the gold," he said. "But all our athletes here met the criteria set by our top sports officials back home, so we must assume they're good." "From what I've seen in their practices and their scores then compared to SEA Games marks, our shooters are very capable of those golds." Also coaching the shooting team are Andres Maer and Susan Aguado. – GMANews.TV