On a mission
Tao swims to 2 golds, leads Davraa's 6-gold medal haul
MANILA – Twelveyear-old Matthieu Adrien Tao of Davao City embarked on an important mission to sweep all gold medals in his seven events in the ongoing Palarong Pambansa 2017 in Antique Province and he only needs five more having clinched two golds on the first day of competition late Tuesday afternoon at the EBJ (formerly Birirayan) Sports Complex in San Jose de Buenavista. His double gold feat exceeded his one silver and one bronze output in the 2016 edition of the Palaro held in Legazpi City, Albay. Tao, thus, led Davao Region's total medal haul of six golds, five silvers and eight bronzes to grab the 10th place among 18 competing regions in the overall ranking as of yesterday presstime. Tao, who has been training with coach Haroon Cali of Holiday Gym & Spa, clocked two minutes and 10.77 seconds to rule the elementary boys 200-meter freestyle gold over Mico Angelo F. Del Poso of Central Luzon (2:14.30) and John Alexander Talosig of Socsargen Area (2:15.10).
He followed it up with another gold in elementary boys 100m backstroke, checking in at 1:08.79 while Reu Rome Francoise of Northern Mindanao (1:11:00) got the silver and Isaiah Pavillar of Socsargen (1:11.65) salvaged the bronze.
"It felt good that my hard work paid off and I beat my personal best time in both events. I was really hoping to win both golds but my target is to really win seven golds," Tao, who won four Batang Pinoy National Championships 2016 golds, said in a Facebook interview with Sun.Star Davao Tuesday evening.
He also said that considering the tough competition, he had to motivate himself during the race. "I was thinking that I won't give up because I've been training so hard for this."
He also booked a spot in the elementary boys 100m freestyle finals and joined Davraa teammates Ivo Nikolai Enot, Eryk John Omandam and Francis Grey Espiritu to secure a finals berth in the elementary boys 400m medley relay after the preliminaries yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, the Davao Region elementary boys 200m medley relay team of Enot, Khrystian Tan, Omandam and Blu Cabilete registered 2:10.54 to pocket the gold over Socsargen Region (2:10.87) and National Capital Region (2:12.75).
FIRST GOLD Over at the EBJ Sports Complex track oval, Davraa bet Germar Dave Marcelo of Kapatagan, Digos timed 16:00.73 to capture the region's first gold medal in Palarong Pambansa 2017 athletics competition.
James Darrel Orduna of NCR (16:05.85) annexed the silver while Caraga Region's Raymund Lopez (16:29.60) got the bronze.
The 17-year-old Marcelo, a Grade 11 student of Kapatagan Integrated Senior High School, was thankful that he improved his silver finish in Albay last year.
"Nag-pacing ko og naniid sa akong mga kalaban, nag-sprint nako sa last 150 meters (I just paced and observed my rivals, I broke away in the last 150 meters to the finish)," he said in a separate Facebook interview
with Sun.Star Davao yesterday.
Marceolo, the middle of three children of Geronimo, a barbecue vendor, and Lucille, a housewife, said he aims to win the golds in his remaining 3,000m and 1,500m events.
He added, "Last na nako ni nga Palaro then how many years ko nagtraining para maka-gold. Ihatag nako akong best kutob sa akong makaya (This is my last Palaro and I've trained for years to win golds. I'll just give my best)."
The new champion then thanked the support of his coaches Aldwin Escalona, Neil Michael Carillo, Nivardo Eran, Maylene Quimque, Jennifer Barsalote and Charlene Mai Bacaling. TEAM EFFORT Meanwhile, Davraa's secondary girls tennis team pocketed the gold medal after defeating Calabarzon Region in two sets in their three-set championship match held at the EBJ Sports Complex tennis courts Tuesday evening.
Patricia Velez of the Precious International School of Davao (PISD) won the deciding second singles for the Davraa team that was also composed of Danna Mariela Abad, Winona Cabardo and Nicole Ann Bautista.
Two-time Palaro performer Velez, in an interview with Sun.Star Superbalita, said, "Di kami mag-gold kung di kami lahat nagtutulungan, kapag kasi ang team isa lang yan eh. Kung buo ang puso na manalo, mag-gold talaga."
Velez decided to play the deciding game, adding, "Wala akong kaba kapag ako maglaro, focus talaga ako." WRESTLING Jia Pingot, for her part, gave Davraa its lone gold medal in secondary girls wrestling.
She topped the 52 kilograms event over silver medalist Daisy Lipasana of Eastern Visayas.
Bronzes went to Rhea Butella of Caraga and Marycris Rabino of Bicol Region.
Lawrence Amaya got a silver in secondary boys 42-kg as Justin Balo copped the 50-kg silver.
Davraa's bronze medalists were Jessa Villarosa (secondary girls 40-kg bronze), Jerrybebs Pagatpat (secondary girls 44-kg) and Noel Keith Castillano (secondary boys 58-kg).
NCR, on the other hand, continued its dominance in the weeklong sportsfest with 50 golds, 26 silvers and 18 bronzes as of 3:30 p.m. yesterday. Western Visayas (13-7-11) was second followed by Negros Island Region (10-10-11) in third, Cordillera Administrative Region (10-8-7) fourth and Calabarzon (9-2121) fifth.