CENTRAL VISAYAS IN CLOSE FIGHT FOR 4TH PLACE IN NATIONAL PALARO
Central Visayas improves tally to 23 golds, battles Cordillera and Region 12 for fourth place overall in Palaro
Athletes representing Central Visayas are on the brink of a big improvement from last year’s finish in the Palarong Pambansa, which will hold its final day of competition today. But it needs to do more to shake off the Cordillera Administrative Region, with whom Region 7 shared fourth place overall as of Friday night. The National Capital Region is all but assured of winning the overall title. With 23 golds, 20 silvers and 27 bronze medals, Central Visayas is in a good position this year to do better than the ninth-place finish in the previous Palarong Pambansa. Among those who helped make that happen were tennis players Zethley Mae Alferez and Elizabeth Abarquez, who won gold in the secondary girls’ tennis doubles. It was a perfect exit for Alferez, who is playing in her last Palarong Pambansa.
The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) will need every medal they can muster as they are in for an exciting three-way race for the overall fourth place on the final day of the 61st Palarong Pambansa in Ilocos Sur.
Cviraa currently has 23 gold medals, 20 silvers and 27 bronzes and shared fourth place with Cordillera Administrative Region and two gold medals ahead of sixth placer Region 12 as of 7 p.m. Friday.
Cviraa got the gold from table tennis, lawn tennis, arnis, and archery in the penultimate day, which saw the National Capital Region (NCR) run away with the overall virtual title with a whop- ping 76-56-40 gold-silver-bronze collection.
The Cebuanos bagged two gold medals—one from secondary girls’ doubles and another from elementary girls’ singles.
Zethley Mae Alferez of Bright Academy and Elizabeth Abarquez of University of Visayas (UV) clobbered Region 4-A, 8-1, in the championship game at the Sta. Catalina Tennis Court to win the gold medal in the doubles secondary girls’ tennis.
Netter Tiffany Claire Nocos of Green Garden Central School chipped in a gold medal after beating Bicol Region, 8-6, in a separate championship in the elementary girls’ singles at the Vigan City Tennis Club.
It was a fitting exit for Alferez, who capped her Palarong Pambansang career with a gold medal. It was her second gold medal in seven stints;,the first one was two years ago in Legazpi, Albay.
“Winning in my last year in the Palarong Pambansa was special for me. The biggest lesson I learned was to never give up. I’ll cherish this experience forever,” said Alferez, who plans to take up Civil Engineering.
Alferez will have a big decision to make after the Palarong Pambansa and will consider offers from the University of the Philippines, University of Sto. Tomas and National University.
The archers, meanwhile, continued to lift Cviraa as they handed another gold medal from the girls’ team event, courtesy of Phoebe Nicole Amistoso and Crisha Mae Merto, Ma. Ferimi Gleam Bajado. The 16-year-old Amistoso of Siliman University became the most bemedalled athlete for Cviraa with five gold medals from the team event, singles fita, 30m, 40m and 50m.
Satisfied
“I’m satisfied with the team’s performance. The female archers dominated but we need to get contributions from the boys’ division also,” said archery coach Crisaldo Merto.
Region 7 bagged a 1-2 finish in the secondary boys’ table tennis as Eljey Dan Tormis beat his teammate Henz Dominque Lucero in the singles championship match at the Philippine Science High School Gym.
Arnisador Maria Crystal Jane Sapio of Pajo National High School beat Mar Hacel Solis of Region 4-A in the gold medal match of the extra lightweight division at the San Vicente Municipal Gym.
The elementary girls’ volleyball team of Region 7 absorbed a heart-breaking straights set loss to Calabarzon, 29-27, 25-26, in the championship match at the Brgy. Beddeng Laud Covered Court in Vigan City.
The elementary volleyball squad actually had a six-point lead late in the first set, 21-15, before Calabarzon staged a rally to steal the pulsating first set. Region 7 collapsed in the second set as Calabarzon sealed the game with a 10-2 blast.
“It’s just our off game. Our limit in unforced errors is usually five but for this game we had more than 10 errors. I’m still proud of the achievement of the girls,” said head coach Zack Vilze Veloso.
The 3x3 Region 7 basketball team also yielded to Region 1, 107, in the championship match and settled for a silver medal at the Quirino Stadium open court. They played three games yesterday, beating Region 11, 18-13, in the semis after booting out Region 3 12-13.
The other medalists for Region 7 were Warren Jan Ram (silver medal finweight, boys’ secondary taekwondo), May Yengele Coran (silver medal featherweight, secondary girls’ featherweight) and elementary boys’ baseball (silver medal).
Monique Ramas-Uypitching won a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke girls’ elementary two day after winning a gold medal in the 50m breaststroke at the Quirino Stadium Poolside.
To keep fourth place or do better, Region 7 will be counting on football, badminton and boxing.
Region 7 elementary beat Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, 4-0, to advance to the championship match. The football team was playing for the gold medal game against Western Visayas on the Quirino football pitch as of press time.
In badminton, Haileen Reeze Diaz reigned over Calabarzon in the elementary girls’ singles at the Vigan City Convention Center to advance to the championship game today.