FOOTCHAMPS.
Central Visayas jumps to fourth place with impressive haul in gymnastics, archery and first ever gold in girls futsal
Central Visayas’s futsal team celebrate their Palaro championship at the heritage site of Calle Crisologo in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.
The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) are on pace to erase the sting of last year with a statement performance in the fourth day of competition in the 61st Palarong Pambansa in Ilocos Sur yesterday.
Daniela Reggie Dela Pisa led Cviraa with her impressive four gold medals, one silver and one bronze in the gymnastics events at the Sta. Maria Municipal Gym in Ilocos Sur.
Dela Pisa, a Grade 8 student of University of Visayas (UV), conquered the rhythmic gymnastics— the all around, rope, hoop and ball. She added a silver medal in the clubs and bronze medal in the team event.
Dela Pisa was a triple-gold medalist in last year’s Palarong Pambansa in Antique.
“We are very happy because this is our aim and we got our target,” said Dela Pisa’s mother Darlene.
Phoebe Nicole Amistoso put up a dominant show in girls archery, capturing her fourth gold medal in the girls’ singles Fita with a score of 1,312, beating Charmaine Angela Villamor (1,288) of CAR and Julie An Malinog (1,287) of Caraga.
Amistoso broke the record again in the single Fita, erasing the 1,301 erstwhile record of Villamor set in 2017. This was the third record broken by Amistoso after setting records in 30m and 40m.
The Cviraa futsal team took a share of the limelight as it routed National Capital Region, 10-2, in the championship match at the Santa Municipal Gym, Brgy. Pasungol.
The futsal team put their name on the history as only the second team to win a gold medal in the Palarong Pambansa after it was included as a regular event just last year.
Itsuko Bacatan, Shiela Estopito and Arantxa Trebol each scored a hat trick in the championship match, while Judd Sydney Gonzales added a goal for Region 7, which beat DAVRAA, 6-3, in the morning.
“We are very happy that we beat strong teams. For me, we have given honor to Central Visayas. We
will cherish this forever,” said head coach Apple Bariñan, who added that this was the fruit of their sacrifices of every day practice.
The futsal team was booted out of the competition in the quarter finals last year and they made it a motivation to bounce back stronger.
“To win the gold is our aim; we really worked hard to reach this goal. This is the first batch of futsal team that won it for Central Visayas. This is also the final year for most of my players,” she said.
Nine of their players are on their final year for Cviraa. The team is composed of eight players from Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), two from Cebu City and two from Talisay City.
Adding the bronze medal yesterday were Riza Jane Vallente (secondary girls’ 400-meter run), Nino Vincent Colis (elementary boys’100m hurdles) and Amistoso (girls’ 60m archery).
In an unofficial medal tally, Cviraa garnered six gold medals to improve to 18 gold medals, 10 silvers and 16 bronzes as of 6:30 p.m yesterday and was currently at fourth place behind NCR (4734-20), Western Visayas (29-23-35) and Region 4-A (22-23-39).
Last year Cviraa finished at its worse rank at ninth place with a 20-18-29 medal tally.
The defending champion elementary boys’ football moved team a step closer to the gold medal after beating the National Capital Region, 2-0, at the Quirino Stadium. Joseph Kyne Garces scored in the fifth minute followed with another goal by Andrew Rey Zamora at the 13th minute.
Football coach Glen Ramos, though, was not satisfied with the win and they want to improve more on their performance in the championship match which is either against ARMM and Caraga.
“We expected that we will win dominantly but it turned to be the other way around. We had many attacks but none of them converted into a goal,” he said.
The elementary girls’ volleyball team advanced to finals after beating NCR, 25-17, 25-17, and will face either Calabarzon or Davraa, while the elementary basketball team advanced to the semis with a 63-59 win over Davraa.
Meanwhile, both the secondary boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams were eliminated in the quarters, the football secondary team suffered a 0-1 defeat over NCR, and the secondary girls’ softball yielded to NCR, 19-7, in the semis.
We are very happy because this is our aim and we got our target.
DARLENE DELA PISA,
mother and coach of Daniela Reggie C. dela Pisa