It is time to look at Pinoy athletes beyond boxing and basketball

To say that Filipinos love sports is an understatement. Well, It's not that being competitive naturally runs in our DNA, but there's something about it that draws many of us into it the adrenaline of it all.

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With our undeniable love for sports, it is easy to think these athletes have it all easy. But unfortunately, that is not the case at all. Tales of financial struggle and lack of support are no stranger to many Pinoy athletes — not even for the best athletes we have.

Recently, Michael Martinez, Filipino two-time Winter Olympian, launched a GoFundMe campaign just so he can have proper training. Asian Games gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz also had to ask for help despite giving pride to our country multiple times. Gymnast Carlos Yulo also had been back and forth from the brink of quitting because of the lack of support.

As Hidilyn delivered the Philippines' first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and 22-years-old skater Margielyn Didal ended her Tokyo 2020 Olympics campaign with a seventh-place finish, It's high time to highlight their struggles and call for accountability and support from the government.

Let us remind you that these athletes won without proper support and facilities that could cater to their growth as athletes but strived to be in their places. However, this is not another story of resiliency but a concrete case of how hard it is to be an athlete in a country boxed in the four corners of the court and ring.

If we can build world-class basketball courts in different parts of the country even if our teams barely qualify for the Olympic or World championships. Why not invest in other sports facilities? Our Athletes have proven it time and time again, and we can surely clench on more victories if we help them push towards their dreams.

We are not saying that we should forget boxing and basketball because that won't really happen, TBH. What we are trying to say is that there's more to our Pinoy athletes and we should give credit where the credit is due.

These horror stories from our athletes are not all unique. There are more stories like these, but we haven't had the opportunity to hear them yet. And it's a shame that we ride on to their victory and call it PINOY PRIDE when they bring honor to our country.

━━ Written By Metroscene Mag

━━ Photo by Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP

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