Sports officials will support any walkout of Pinoys at SEA Games

Sporting officials in the Philippine contingent at the 24th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games will support any walkout other Filipino athletes may stage to protest unfair officiating, according to a report from the Philippine delegation on Thursday. "It's their call, but whatever their decision may be, we will fully support them," Monico Puentevella, chef de mission, said Thursday morning. "We understand their situation, sympathize with them, and believe they will do whatever is right." Filipino boxers "resigned" their boxing finals matches against their Thai rivals at the 24th SEA Games being held in Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand. Flyweight Godfrey Castro and bantamweight Junel Cantancio both raised their hands as soon as the referee egged them on to fight, thus relinquishing potential gold medals, a report from the Philippine delegation said Thursday. Featherweight Orlando Tacuyan Jr. did fight Sailom Adi but quit after the second round with the Thai ahead 16-2. Others expected to follow Castro's and Cantancio's actions later in the afternoon are lightweight Joegin Ladon, super light Larry Semillano, middleweight Junie Tizon and light-heavy Maximino Tabangcora. The move is viewed as RP boxing's way of protesting what it feels is the "highway robbery in broad daylight" perpetrated on the Fiilipino bets in the all-female finals Wednesday. Of the six Filipinas who made it to the finals, only flyweight Annie Albania emerged with a gold and only because she knocked out her Thai foe in the first round. The rest all lost on points, including featherweight Ronijen Sofla who absorbed a 0-19 "beating" that left Team RP officials incredulous and seething, among others. The officials, including chef de mission Monico Puentevella and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco Jr. met Wednesday evening to discuss options on how to protest the hometown decisions. Most concerned were those from such combat sports as karatedo, taekwondo, and muay thai. Beijing Olympics-bound jin Mary Antoinette Rivero was the most notable example of being "robbed" after getting deducted a point in the dying seconds of her under-67-kilogram match against Thai Cassandra Haller Wednesday. As a result of those and other controversial decisions that went Thailand's way, some RP officials allegedly even wanted to walk out of their respective events. The RP karatedos, jins, and muay thai artists still saw action Thursday. - GMANews.TV