The Philippines has field in a 19-strong contingent in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 —the largest since Sydney 2000 and the most world-ranked athletes that has yet to compete. And as of writing, our country already obtained two medals — gold from Hidilyn Diaz, weightlifting, women's 55kg, and silver from Nesthy Petecio, boxing, women's feather. While Carlo Paalam, boxing, men’s flyweight — just secured his bronze medal, as he advanced to semi-finals of the Tokyo Games flyweight boxing tournament. Also Eumir Marcial triumphed over his opponent, and secured his medal as he advanced to the semis.

But still, the Philippines is still obsessed more with basketball.

Basketball is in every corner of the Philippines: in tiny villages on the islands rural areas, on every street corner in Manila and Cebu, and on television screens from north to south of the archipelago.

Many investors in the country has spent millions for basketball.

According to Inquirer, Wilfred Uytengsu, Alaska team owner, says the cost of maintaining a PBA team is around P85 million—and that’s just the basic operating expenses of a team that isn’t performing well.

The article said that cost is invested around salaries of players, the coaching staff, and members of the support team: Practice players, ball boys, medical personnel, therapists and statisticians.

Then there are the other yearly expenses like team uniforms for games and practices, training equipment, scouting equipment, rental of gyms for practices, allowances for out-of-town trips, food before and after every game and practice and other things that may crop up like medical emergencies.

That cost, said Uytengsu, could expand to P150 to P200 million for a winning team once bonuses kick in.

On the other hand, Hidilyn Diaz's shared on how she had to improvise with little access and good equipment during the pandemic.

To train, the 30-year-old female weightlifter had to turn to broomsticks found in the house, ordinary resistance bands, and gym bags stuffed with heavy objects to put a barbell together.

What she went through to get the medal was not all unicorns and rainbows, but one that should not be glorified either.

Meanwhile, the netizens also took to Twitter as they voiced out on how the other sports are getting snubbed and lacking support from our country.

Hidilyn Diaz, Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial are just one of the few Filipino athletes who prove that our country has a very strong sportspersons, if only grassroots programs for their respected sports are readily available and opportunities to excel are accessible just like how the basketball is prioritized in our country.