Agatha Wong: The new ‘Darling of PH Sports’
Credit to Author: Eddie G. Alinea| Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2019 16:14:53 +0000
From the time Asia’s Sprint Queen Lydia de Vega retired in 1994, the search for an athlete who can succeed her as “Darling of Philippine Sports” started.
For 25 years, that throne remained unoccupied, until, in this year’s staging of Southeast Asian Games the country hosted from November 30 to December 11, the search was believed to have ended.
Agatha Wong, winner of two gold medals in wushu in this year’s recently-concluded 30th Southeast Asian Games the country hosted, looks fit for the title left by De Vega upon her retirement.
The first thing, though, to establish about Agatha Wong is that she really is one. She’s a quiet mortal. She’s 1.6-meter tall and weighs 55-kilogram, making her truly outstanding wherever she goes and whoever she’s with.
Her father, Christopher Sr., is running a family business. Her mother, Agatha Richa helps him.
She has two eyes, all her teeth are white, nice smile. Flawless white skin, too, she inherited from her Chinese mestizo father and Filipina mother, who bore three children, she being the eldest with Christopher and Ashley following her.
She with a beautiful face is charming, trait that can make her loved and admired by fans like Diay. Agatha is good in her events — taolu taijiquan and taolu taijian — which gave her the twin gold medals in this year’s Games.
Agatha’s not all brawn having earned a degree in consular diplomacy and can excel in any conversation. She speaks softly and intelligently.
She’s young at 21 and proud to be Filipino. After keeping her taolu taijiquan diadem and gifting the country second gold, she wrote in her instagram: “Para ito sa bayan. Para ito sa akin, at para ito sa kapwa kong Pilipino.”
Agatha loves and is utmostly dedicated to her sport being a believer of the proposition, “no pain, no gain.” While other young women her age are out traveling, shopping, dining out, and living colorful social lives, Agatha stays at home resting or in gyms training and honing her skills. She’s known to pass up holidays in order to master her sport, realizing that without putting in the time and dedication to be the best at what she does, her athletic dreams will remain just that, dreams.
Without no one knowing it, not even here teammates, Agatha was in actual pain when she arrived at the competition venue at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. She was tired and fatigued, having pushed her body to its limits in training weeks before the Games. Only her willpower and determination to bring honor to herself and country kept her going despite the condition she was in.
Her secret in winning, she said, is to focus on herself and perfecting her routine, rather than study her opponents. Unlike other athletes who might watch and scout their opponents, Agatha prefers to concentrate on just perfecting her routine.
Agatha actually started her athletic career in karatedo and swimming but because of controversies brought about by leadership crisis confronting the ruling bodies of the two sports associations, she decided to move to her new sport, a decision she never regretted later.
Her twin triumphs in wushu attested to that. Besides, she vowed to help wushu, being one of several sports that still doesn’t caught the interest of many attain the place it deserves in the Philippine sporting landscape.