NEWLY elected Philippine Association of Sepak Takraw president Karen Tanchanco-Caballero was the Chef de Mission of the lean Philippine team that joined the 5th Asian Beach Games in Da Nang, Vietnam, a four-kilometer beach shoreline serving as the games’ battlegound.
And what an experience turned out to be for Karen as the athletes surpassed her expectations.
The 67-athlete delegation competed only in 11 out of the 22 events contested, but went home with 21 medals, composed of two golds, four silvers and 15 bronzes—good for 17th place overall out of 42 countries.
There were two events where the gold slipped out from the hands of two Filipino athletes.
Jiu-jitsu’s Gian Dee had a lock on his Iraqi opponent going into the final seconds of the bout, but he lost his hold and with it went a possible gold.
Another was in the beach athletics, where triple jumper Mark Harry Diones was leading going into the final jump, but lost out to his opponents and had to settle for third place.
The Philippines could have even finished eighth had Dee and Diones won those gold medals.
The overall standings based on total medals won saw host Vietnam as expected, on top with 52 golds, 44 silvers, and 43 bronzes, with Thailand a far second at 36 – 24 – 30.
China placed third (12 – 18 – 19), followed by Iran (9 – 6 – 6) and Mongolia (7 – 4 – 8).
“It was total collaboration for all, the medical team was very efficient and were there when needed. The secretariat took care of the little things for the athletes like getting their accreditation and meal cards, and other things ready without efforts anymore from the athletes, while I was the orchestrator of everything that the athletes only had to focus on their respective events,” said Caballero.
It was jiu-jitsu which delivered the gold medals for the team and the fact that it was Margarita Ochoa, who won the very first gold for the Philippines was not a surprise for Caballero as an hour before that, she was struck by the thought that it was going to be a female athlete who would deliver the first gold.
When she was informed about it, she was in the middle of a meeting with other CDM’s and she shocked everyone when she jumped up in joy upon hearing the news.
“From what I was told, she was already on her last gasp in that bout and it was only her determination not to lose that enabled her to escape from an early lock on her by her Thai opponent. It was a different story for the other gold medalist, Annie Ramirez. I was there at the fight and when she went up the ring, the way she stood there, oozing with confidence, it told me she was going to win, and she did in overwhelming fashion, “ said Caballero.
Ramirez actually duplicated her gold-medal finish when she competed in the previous Asian beach games in 2014.
The country’s three other silvers came from pencak silat, with Princesslyn Enopia, Jaciren Abad and Jefferson Loon delivering the medals.
It was Loon who impressed Caballero most when the athlete told his coach prior to his semifinal bout that if he loses, the coach should take him out of the team. What happened was Loon sent his Thai opponent to the hospital in winning the bout.
“We saw a lot of national athletes, even some Olympians in the swim events fielded by other countries. The competition was tough, but with a better preparation in terms of selecting the athletes to be sent, we really could have done better. As it was, not all our NSAs were into it. The 3 x 3 men’s basketball could have given us a very good opportunity for another gold for instance,” added Caballero.
Caballero believes that local sports officials should start changing their way of thinking of their participation in the Asian Beach Games.
“This is not a minor event anymore and we should look more towards non-Olympic sports. A lot of the events here are non-Olympic ones and we were going up against the region’s powerhouse countries in non-Olympic martial arts events.”
But she paid special tribute to her 18-man medical team composed of doctors, nurses, masseurs and psychotherapists, led by Dr. Pilar Villanueva, who subbed for Dr. Felix Brawner as he had to rush back to Manila because of the death of a sibling.
“Our medical team members knew what they were doing and organized themselves very well, I just told them to let me know what they need and I will provide but they had to be wherever and whenever they were needed, and they delivered just as our athletes did, “ related Caballero.
“I believe even as I was a neophyte CDM, I was fortunate that I had a very good team with me, and they know that I am willing to learn. I ask questions, I admit mistakes and given the chance, I would welcome being a CDM again. It was a very good learning experience for me,” said Caballero.