A few days before leaving for Bangkok to compete in his first-ever Southeast Games, Gian Santos – otherwise known as Supertanker G – vowed to give his best.
Based in New York, Santos had to fly back to Manila a few days before leaving for Thailand last Monday.
He was set to compete in at least three events in the swimming competitions – the 400M individual medley, 200M individual medley and the 200M freestyle – of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. Santos will compete with the senior team after an illustrious stint in the juniors.
“I qualified for two events at the SEA Games tryouts when I went to visit the Philippines in August. But then afterwards, they allowed me to choose another event,” Santos told The Designated Kit Man during a small gathering hosted by Oliver and Jane Buenaflor.
The three events are among Santos’ favorites and his personal bests rank among the top 4 in the region.
“For all of them, I can’t guarantee anything because I let the results speak for themselves. But I’m hoping that with my training, because I’ve been practicing seven days a week, 10 practices a week for the past three months. I’ve basically just been swimming non-stop and I’ve cut a lot of social activity to put myself in the best position for an opportunity such as this,” Santos said.
Santos says he is really excited to represent the country and if plans push through, he sees himself competing in three more SEA Games, two Asian Games and in the 2028 Olympics, a task that remains formidable until now.
But at just 19 years old, Santos has a whole future ahead of him. Moreover, he says he is quite happy so far when it comes to competing in the next phase of his swimming career, calling it, in a nutshell, a new experience.
“I have a lot of people behind my back supporting me. I have the whole country supporting me. A lot of eyes are going to be on me. So I feel like I have a lot of support, and I’m not going through this by myself. And I feel like I have a lot of pride representing the country,” he explained.
While looking forward to the 400M individual medley today, Santos likewise revealed that he is making a big decision off the pool. Initially looking forward to gaining a degree in neuro science, the Columbia University freshman is focusing now his sights on gaining a juris doctor diploma.
Yes from being a doctor, Santos now wants something else for himself. He wants to become a lawyer. And yet that is not the best decision he has made in recent weeks. He wants to become a lawyer and go home back in the country, join the government or establish his law practice to serve his kababayan.
“I’d like to go here, potentially work in the government because I feel like the Philippines really needs it right now. We are at a very unprecedented time when people have an increasing amount of distrust in the government. I would like to promote a positive change at least in my own little way,” Santos explained.
Two days later, Santos, the Supertanker G, delivered the country’s first medal in the swimming competitions, a silver in the Men’s 200M individual medley. Gian clocked 2:03:88 in the event which is not bad for someone who is just competing for the first time in the biennial event.
It proved to be an exciting day for the Philippines in the pool as Kayla Sanchez, Xiandi Chua, Chloe Isleta and Heather White later won a gold medal in the women’s 4x100M freestyle.
Overall, the past week has been good, too, football wise, for the country. The Philippine Women’s National Football Team is still in the hunt for a podium finish after nipping defending champion Vietnam, 1-0 in the group stage. The Filipinas lost to Myanmar in their first game.
Not to be outdone, the Under-22 Philippine National Men’s Football Team advanced to the final four for the first time since 1991 after beating Indonesia, 1-0. Earlier, the U-22 Team scraped past Myanmar, 2-1, another history made because it was the first time the county has beaten Myanmar at the SEA Games.
From perennial minnows, the Philippines now has a crack at snatching a historic finish in ASEAN football.
Speaking of history, the San Beda Red Lions are now within a win to annex their 24th men’s basketball title in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The men of Mendiola bucked the loss of its star players to ejection and foul troubles to post an impressive 89-70 rout of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights in game 1 of their best-of-three championship series.
Nursing a slim 46-43 lead during the halftime break, the Lions went big, on both ends of the floor, in the third quarter to cushion the ejection of rookie sensation Agjanti Miller and the fouling out of Bryan Sajonia. The Red Lions went to their vaunted defense while the bench showed up for the needed offense. A 24-3 run cushioned several late game errors in the 4th quarter as San Beda took the first game in a very impressive manner.
The job remains not yet done. The Knights will surely go all out to extend the series for another game. They will also have the advantage of not facing Miller in the second game because of suspension (due to two technical fouls for flopping).
Sana may technical fouls din sa referees for flopping calls!
Game 2 is tomorrow, 2 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Go San Beda Fight!
Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!
For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at erel_cabatbat@yahoo.com or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat
