Magbanua wins gold; volleybelles play for gold

TAGUM CITY – Wesley Jovan Magbanua capped the city’s lone gold medal in chess at the close of the scheduled seven-round competition played at the Bulwagang Pankarunungan gym in the 2019 Batang Pinoy Games Mindanao eliminations, here.

Magbanua finished with 6.5 points for the gold medal in the Standard Boys 1315 years-old leaving past closest foes Clyde Harris Saraos of Cagayan de Oro City (5.5 points) and Zamboanga City’s Aaron Noblijas (5 points) for second and third places, respectively.

It was the lone medal for Davao City in the Standard division as others falter their bid to earn top three honors. Caerel Shane Mantilla placed fourth in the Girls 12 yearsold with 4.5 points, Aaron Aton at 18th in the Boys 12 and under with 2.5 points and Nathalie Suter at eighth with 4 points in the Girls 13-15 years-old.

On the other hand, Davao’s Indoor Girls volleyball team will play for the gold medal next to Talaingod City today, February 9 at the University of Mindanao Tagum gymnasium. Their road to the finals included a deciding third setter over Zamboanga City in the quarterfinals, 25-15, 19-25 and 15-13 and a 2-0 win over Cagayan de Oro City, 28-18 and 26-24.

For the Beach Volleyball Girls, the city’s hopes are pinned on the pair of April Joy Locaberte and Khalia Sinsuat when they play top seed General Santos City in the finals at the Beach Velodrome. Their male counterparts Jayrad Adeva and Ryu Ampan take on Mati City for

the bronze.

As of February 7 at 6 p.m. Davao City still leads the overall medal tally with 32 golds, 25 silvers and 41 bronze medals followed by Davao del Norte (19-18-15), Koronadal City (19-9-6) and General Santos City (16-2020) at second, third and fourth places, in that order.