INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines — (Agimat Picks Pacman: Manny Pacquiao will stop Miguel Cotto in their forthcoming fight for the World Boxing Organization welterweight crown inside 10 rounds. This prediction was made by former Sen. Ramon Revilla Sr., popularly known in the local movie world as Agimat, earlier in the week. “Agimat said he’s very certain Cotto will not last the distance,” international matchmaker Jun Sarreal told the Inquirer Friday. Sarreal, who visited Revilla in his place in Cavite, said the former senator has recovered tremendously from a stroke suffered nearly a year ago. Sarreal recalled that, before Pacquiao’s fight against Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya, “Agimat” ordered his son, Sen. Bong Revilla, to go to the bank and place a bet on Pacquiao, then an awful underdog.)

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Arturo Macapagal, president of the Philippine Olympian Association, announced on Wednesday the passing away of Olympian Rodrigo del Rosario.

That was the opening sentence of a press release sent by Kitch Roland Medina, media relations officer of the Philippine Sports Commission, on Thursday.

On Friday, we requested additional information on the late former Olympic weightlifter.

“I will attend his wake tonight to get you more details,” Medina said.

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That was very nice of him.

Of course, the PSC and the Philippine Olympic Committee need not be told that Del Rosario deserved more than scant mention after having dedicated his life to Philippine sports.

The PSC release added that Del Rosario, 92, passed away on October 10 and that his body lies at the Funeraria Floresco at 1659 Pedro Gil St., Paco.

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Del Rosario, from Cabangan, Zambales, represented the country in three Olympics: London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956.

It’s generally known that Del Rosario did not win a medal in those three Olympic stints.

But what many Filipino sports fans don’t know is that, although he never won an Olympic medal, Del Rosario managed to set an Olympic record.

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“During the 1952 Olympiad, Del Rosario lifted 105 kg in the featherweight press which broke the record of 100 kg made in the 1948 London Olympics,” Medina noted in his press release.

“He placed 4th overall in the Helsinki Olympics after placing 5th in London,” the release added.

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His feats, the PSC statement added, inspired his son, Arturo, and a nephew, Salvador, to take up the sport of weightlifting and they too became Olympians.

Salvador was awarded a world weightlifting gold medal in the late 60s.

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The three-time Olympian managed to set an Olympic record but did not land a medal.

That may not be too different from the Philippine basketball team to the 1936 Berlin Olympics which lost only once, to eventual winner United States, but finished only fifth overall in the final standings.

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Nothing much was heard about Rodrigo del Rosario after his third and final Olympic stint in Melbourne.

He actually never stopped serving Philippine sports.

Del Rosario, to those who did not notice him through the years, was the same alert, strong-faced guard in blue uniform, who stood like a beacon at the main entrance of the Rizal Memorial Coliseum when the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF), forerunner of the PSC, had its offices there.

His remains will be cremated today (Saturday).