Davao 10th in overall standing
December 12, 2014 at 08:10am
Isli, also a member of the Malaysia Parliament, and Malaysia Minister of Youth and Sport Khairy Jamaluddin led the turnover rites with the East Kalimantan chef de mission.
Isli also thanked all participating delegations, saying it's been a great privilege for Labuan to host the just-concluded 8th edition of the biennial Games.
"This is the largest Eaga Games with 12 contingents and 10 sports. It gives us a lot of experience. I hope this experience gives us more confidence so in the future we'll be able to organize big multi-sports events."
He also praised the Labuan athletes, coaches and officials for producing five golds, 10 silvers and 20 bronzes.
Isli, during his opening remarks, said, "I'm so proud that Labuan, an island of 100,000 people, took the No. 6 spot in the overall standing."
Jamaluddin, meanwhile, said the Games boosts the people to people relationship of focus areas in the BIMP-East Asean Growth Area.
He also lauded Labuan for being a gracious host to over a thousand delegates.
Defending champion Sabah kept its overall title anew by topping the Games with 14 golds, 13 silvers and 15 bronzes followed by South Sulawesi of Indonesia in second with 10 golds, five silvers and four bronzes while Sarawak, Malaysia placed third accounting for eight golds, 10 silvers and nine bronzes.
Papua Indonesia, for its part, clinched seven golds, two silvers and three bronzes in fourth as 6-5-4 East Kalimantan came fifth.
Trailing behind were 5-10-20 Labuan at sixth, 5-4-2 West Kalimantan of Indonesia seventh, 4-1-1 South Kalimantan of Indonesia eighth, 3-8-4 Brunei Darussalam ninth, 3-6-4 (Davao) Mindanao 10th, 2-2-2 Maluku of Indonesia 11th and 0-0-2 Palawan 12th.
Davao chef de mission Luz Imsave Obial, supervising administrative officer of the Sports Development Division of the City Mayor's Office (SDD-CMO), said the city's ranking could have gone up if it participated in more events.
"Out of 10 sports, we only competed in five events and yet we still managed to win medals in all five events. We just lacked athletes in track and field that stakes more medals," Obial said in the vernacular.
Overall team manager Tisha Goldie Delvo, SDD-CMO deputy chief, also said that holding qualifying or eliminations to select best athletes should also be considered in the city's participation in future international stints.
"Tanan man naghimo sa ilang best, tanang teams sa Davao nagperform kay dunay medals man pud nakuha. Pasok man sad sa finals ang basketball ug sepak takraw. Nakakuha man sad ug silver and badminton ug golds sa athletics ug beach volleyball. Overall, maayo ang performance sa mga bata (The athletes did their best, all Davao teams performed as each team produced medals. Basketball and sepak takraw entered the finals as badminton had a silver and golds were won courtesy of athletics and beach volleyball)," Delvo said.
Close to 2,000 delegates, officials, volunteers and guests were treated to a sumptuous buffet dinner of shrimps, crabs, chicken, beef, fish and vegetable dishes during the closing ceremony.
Source: sunstar.com.ph
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