Bleak prospect for Pinoy bets

If the Philippines’ campaign in the 29th Southeast Asian Games is built around the 29 gold medals the Filipino athletes won the last time around two years ago, it looks like the 497-athlete the country is sending to Kuala Lumpur will be hard-pressed to meet the goal projected by their officials.

Chef de Mission and Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion expressed hopes even before the national contingent could board the plane to the Malaysian capital for a harvest of 50 gold medals which, she surmised would be able to catapult the country to a fifth place overall finish, a rank better than sixth the 2015 hopefuls brought home from Singapore.