MANILA -- Filipino athletes in track and field are looking to surpass their performance in 2023 while boxers are keeping expectations modest as they enter the final stretch of preparations for the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
According to the secretary-general of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA), they will send some 60 athletes to Thailand next month for the biennial competition -- including two-time Olympian EJ Obiena.
"He [Obiena] is preparing for it," Jasper Tanhueco said Monday.
Their athletes are currently holding a training camp in New Clark City to ramp up their preparations for the SEA Games, where they hope to surpass their 22-medal haul from Cambodia in 2023.
"Well, of course our goal is to surpass 'yung previous," said Tanhueco. "Definitely, that's the goal. We're there to win and represent the country really well."
READ: POC chief hopes Team PH can maintain ranking in SEA Games
Meanwhile, Marcus Manalo of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) admits that they are in for a tough challenge in Thailand.
Filipino boxers delivered four gold medals in Cambodia, courtesy of Carlo Paalam, Ian Clark Bautista, Paul Julyfer Bascon, and Nesthy Petecio.
They plan to send around 11 boxers to Thailand.
"No final number yet, but that's the realistic number that we can send," Manalo said.
As for their target, he acknowledged that it will be "hard to replicate" their output from two years ago.
"It's gonna be in Thailand. Tough conditions," he noted. "They're a powerhouse boxing nation also, and if it's gonna be held there, then they're gonna be tougher to beat."
Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino has already said that he hopes the country can maintain its standing in the medal table, after several events where Filipino athletes can succeed were removed by the host nation.
The Philippines finished fifth in Cambodia in 2023, with 58 gold medals, 85 silvers, and 117 bronzes.
"To maintain the last [ranking], okay na 'yun. To maintain the last. Kasi nga, ngayon pa lang, inalis na lahat ng potential golds natin," said Tolentino. "Martial arts, marami. Marami din tayong potential doon. So mabigat talaga."
The Philippines is sending a delegation of around 1,600 athletes to the SEA Games in Thailand, which runs from December 9-20. -- with a report from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News