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| Despite his initial forecast of eight gold medals now essentially unfulfilled, POC president Bambol Tolentino remains hopeful that the Philippines will get more than four championships in the Asian Games. POC Media Pool |
MANILA—Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino implicitly conceded that his hopes of seeing eight Asian Games gold medals from the Philippines this year could be a bit too much.
As the national team woke up right when September ended, they just had three gold medals, two from gymnast Carlos Yulo and another from pole vaulter EJ Obiena.
Tolentino hoped that Jean Claude Saclag and Team Liquid Philippines-backed Sibol Mobile Legends squad would also win it all in the mixed martial arts and esports events.
However, Saclag settled for the silver, and Sibol was shockingly knocked out in the quarterfinals by Indonesia, powered by Alter Ego, the same squad that eliminated Liquid PH in M7 last January.
"Ganu’n talaga. May napipitas, may pumapalit," Tolentino told reporters in Nagoya over their first breakfast for October.
The interview came hours before another heartbreaker happened: tennis star Alex Eala's reverse-sweep loss to Wang Xiyu in the women's singles semifinals.
The world number 18 was also highly touted to deliver the gold for the Philippines, skipping the WTA 1000 China Open for her Asian Games bid.
Despite the eight-gold goal possibly already out of reach, Tolentino remains hopeful that the Filipinos would eclipse their four-gold haul from 2018 and 2023.
“Siguro naman sure na malalampasan ‘yung apat,” the concurrent Tagaytay mayor said.
"God willing, mayroon pa pagkukunan."
Tolentino is mainly pinning his hopes on boxer Carlo Paalam, who will face hometown bet Rui Yamaguchi in the men's 55-kilogram boxing final on Friday, and bets from padel, judo, jiu-jitsu, softball, and women's golf.
"Boxing, Carlo Paalam. Judo. Malakas nga lang ‘yung first event ngayon. What else? Jiu-jitsu. Hopefully dalawa, so apat na ‘yun. Hindi ko alam ang dynamics ng softball. Pumasok pa ang padel, so lima. Meron pa ‘yan," Tolentino further said.
