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It's on in Incheon!

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - SEPTEMBER 19: Young Korean children come to watch the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon Asiad Stadium on September 19, 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

I am privileged to be one of the members of the coverage team for the Sports 5 network that is now in Incheon, South Korea to report and cover the 17th Asian Games.  I, together with my colleagues, Patricia Bermudez-Hizon, Dennis Principe, and Chiqui Roa-Puno, with a small team of directors, producers, writers, editors, and cameramen arrived in Korea in the evening of 17 September to familiarize ourselves for the Games, which run from 19 September to 04 October 2014.

All in all, there are 45 countries participating in the quadrennial Asiad, with more than 14,000 athletes competing in 36 sports, vying for the 439 gold medals. Filipino athletes, 150 in total, will be competing in 26 of the sports.

The organizing committee employed about seventy-thousand operating personnel to man forty-nine stadiums in and around Incheon.  There are twenty media outfits from all across Asia stationed at the International Broadcast Center (IBC), which will practically serve as the Sports 5 team’s home away from home for the next two and a half weeks.

Upon arrival in Incheon, we observed how organized everything is for the participants in the Games, as we were immediately met by volunteers who walked us through the ID verification process and the courtesy lane for all athletes, officials, and media personnel, in the airport that has been named the world’s best for nine straight years.  There is a golf course, a skating rink, a casino, a spa, and several other attractions in the airport, and both departure and arrival procedures are completed in an average of less than twenty minutes.  For us Filipinos, these are things we can only wish for.

(Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)



On our flight from Manila were the Kuwait basketball team, which played some practice games against PBA teams last week, and Gilas Pilipinas Team Manager Aboy Castro, who attended the basketball team managers’ meeting in the morning of 19 September, to finalize matters for the hoops event.  All eligibility issues seem to have been hurdled as the Gilas twelve-man roster is set and, unless something drastic happens in the next couple of days, the team should be ready to play its first game on 23 September.

Our team was able to visit several of the venues for the different competitions, all of which look state-of-the-art and ripe for the fierce battles that will happen throughout the Games. We also visited the Athletes’ Village, where most competitors and officials are billeted, and witnessed the teams from different countries arrive on our first full day, and also march towards their buses on our second full day to attend the Opening Ceremonies of the Games, which are going on as I type this report. We were able to chat with Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Richie Garcia, Commissioner Iggy Clavecilla, our tennis athlete Katharina Lehnert, and former Gilas coach, now Jordan coach, Rajko Toroman, who seemed very happy to see us and shared his thoughts on who he thinks are the contenders in the basketball competition.

Toroman said that he expects Iran, China, Korea, and the Philippines to lead the race.  According to him, even without Andray Blatche, Gilas will contend since the team has learned to play together and Marcus Douthit, a late insertion, is very familiar with the system.  He also said that Jordan is not as strong as in the past because of the absence of some of its regulars, including naturalized player Rasheim Wright.  Toroman bade us goodbye, for now, as he headed to the bus that would take his team to the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium for the parade of athletes.

(Photo by Stanley Chou/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stanley Chou/Getty Images)



Our coverage team will try to cover as many sports where Filipino athletes are participating as we can.  In the next several days, we will travel from venue to venue to meet and interview our countrymen as they attempt to win medals in their respective sports.  Part of my responsibilities here is to cover Gilas Pilipinas as it prepares for, hopefully, a medal performance, possibly gold. For those wondering, Gilas Pilipinas will play its first game in the afternoon of 23 September.  Being an automatic second-rounder by virtue of being among the top eight teams in the last Asian Games basketball competition, our basketball players are waiting for the winner in one of the preliminary round brackets, which will be its first opponent.  Stay tuned.

Let us all pray for the entire Team Pilipinas and wish our athletes the best of luck as they try to bring glory to our nation.  Laban Team Pilipinas!

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.