All is not lost in the field of sports despite our poor showing in the Beijing Olympics.
Just before noon on Monday, staff at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) welcomed the jubilant Philippine Team led by Mrs. Rosita Bradborn, who emerged as gold medalist in the recently concluded 3rd Asia-Pacific Merdeka Indoor Bowls Championship in Klang, Malaysia on August 8 to 13. Bradborn and the Philippine Team were greeted with wide applause as they emerge at the DMIA Terminal’s arrival lobby where supporters led by Rey Pineda awaited them.
DMIA has become the “Port of Champions” of sort with the arrival of victorious Filipino players such as Bradborn. A few months ago, it also welcomed the Philippine Team who won in the SEABA Basketball Championship also in Malaysia.
Although lawn bowling is still a sport not included in the Olympic games it has gained popularity in Angeles City where expats and locals have honed their skills at the Hidden Valle Resorts in preparation for world competitions. After Bradborn’s victory in Malaysia, she and the Philippine Team are setting their sights on the real Mccoy of lawn bowling – the upcoming Scotland Championships.
Bradborn’s nine years of experience in lawn bowling will be put to test in Scotland against the world’s best players, and this early she is conditioning her mind for the big event. Bradborn blazed into the finals trouncing competitors in ten countries – Australia, Canada, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. Lawn bowling like the equally popular game “cricket” is made popular by the United Kingdom and commonwealth nations.
What caught us offguard at the DMIA was the arrival of three other gold medalists who emerged champions in ice figure skating also in Malaysia – six year-old Ashley Noguiera, one gold and four silvers; 11 year-old Frances Christine Resultay, two golds; and 23 yr-old Jerico Lim, one gold for the Level 9 Artistic Event, which is the highest discipline in figure skating. The three figure skating champs left the country silently and returned back victorious in deafening silence. DMIA and Pineda however recognized them as real champions.
The ice skating champs raked in not just one gold but several golds. What had been ironic was that the faceless champions arrived silently at the DMIA without fanfare. These champions brought honor to the country but no one supported or recognized them.
The hospitable Pineda has also welcomed the ice figure skating champs at the Clark airport, and invited them at Hidden Valle, where he urged the support for lawn bowling and ice figure skating.
The national government should change tack in the field of sports, and should exert all effort to support lawn bowling, figure skating, billiards and boxing – the games where Filipinos excel. Our warm felicitations to the silent champions – Rosita, Ashley, Frances and Jerico. In silence, they were magnanimous.
