Puerto Princesa, Palawan—The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) ended its campaign in the 2008 Palarong Pambansa with a fourth place finish.
Central Visayas athletes had a final day haul of 17 gold medals in the elementary level, 23 silvers in secondary competition and 16 bronze medals in chess and badminton, for a total of 38 golds,72 silvers and 48 bronzes.
The medal tally earned for Central Visayas 266.17, after garnering 140 points in the elementary level and getting 126.17 from the secondary level.
The National Capital Region (NCR) as expected lorded it over the games with a total of 738 points (375 from elementary competitions and 263 from secondary).
West Negros came in second with 433 points, followed by STCAA or Region IV-A (Southern Tagalog) with a combined 407.1 points.
Lindley Navaja, the meet’s fastest runner, and double-gold medal swimmer Loren Dale Echavez were among the notable feats of CVIRAA athletes.
The finals in elementary lawn tennis provided some drama during the meet’s last day.
Jacob Lagman, who was upset by Fritz Satera in the regional meet, avenged his defeat by beating the latter 8-4 for the elementary crown.
Earlier, Lagman teamed up with Satera, Jude Tabotabo and Ondoy to capture the team event.
Nino Siso, another fast rising Cebuano junior netter, however, bowed to NCR’s Kim Ivor Saraza,5-8.
The tandem of Larry Antigua and Francis Largo somewhat made up for Siso’s loss as he plucked two golds in doubles after beating Region X’s Bobby Chio and Noelito Pacana,8-3.
Over at the Ramon V.Mitra Jr.Sports Complex, the CVIRAA elementary football squad coached by Joselito Bono regained their supremacy, after silencing NCR 5-0, in the championship match.
Carmelo Genco netted two goals while Paulo Labajo, Junjay Arizabal and Joseph Lorenzo Mercado contributed a goal each.
Central Visayas’ secondary bets, on the other hand, settled for silver after bowing to West Negros.
The other night, the taekwondo jins produced a gold through lightweight Vergara and a bronze each from finweight Lord Jay Guia and flyweight Rovel Mendoza.—Caecent No-ot Magsumbol