Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino at the 2025 SEA Games in Bangkok, Thailand. POC Media
The president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) remains confident that the country will reach its goal in the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, where gold medals have been coming in trickles for Filipino athletes.
"We'll get there," said POC President Abraham "Bambol" Tolentino on Saturday in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ahead of the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand, Tolentino set his sights on matching the Philippines' fifth-place finish in the 2023 edition of the event in Cambodia.
"I'm confident and I trust our athletes to go all out in the next six days and get to our modest target," he said.
As of Sunday night, the Philippines sits seventh in the medal table with 17 gold medals. The host nation is dominating the Games, with Thai athletes having already won a whopping 132 golds.
Nonetheless, Tolentino is still optimistic with a couple hundred gold medals still at stake.
"On target? Yes, we are," said Tolentino.
Indonesia is in second place with 43 golds, 56 silvers and 53 bronzes, followed by Vietnam (34-35-66), Singapore (27-28-33), and Malaysia (20-23-70).
Tolentino said there were gold medals that got away and expressed hope officiating in subjective sports will be more objective until the end of the games.
"We had losses that shouldn't have been," said Tolentino, hinting that the hosts are getting the better end in certain events tailor-fit for them.