CV bags 5 more golds

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  â€” Host Central Visayas made a strong push in Day 3 of the 2013 Palarong Pambansa, hauling in five golds in lawn tennis, table tennis, taekwondo and arnis events of the week-long sports conclave mainly at the Gov. Mariano Perdices Memorial Stadium here yesterday.

In lawn tennis, Central Visayas made the region proud as the team of Lord Mikell Lauron, Ed Adrian Parangan, Michael Wamar and John Michael  Necesario took the team gold after beating CALABARZON, 2-1, in the finals. 

Necesario, a student from the University of the Visayas (UV), won the first singles match, 8-5, for the Cevees, but the tandem of Michael Wamar and Mikell Lauron of Carcar City faltered in the doubles event, 6-8. However, Ed Adrian Parangan of St. Francis Academy-Balamban came to CV's rescue by trouncing his foe, 8-5, to seal a golden showing for the team of coach Charisse Labastida.

“It was not an easy campaign because we faced strong teams like Davao in the semis and CALABARZON," said Labastida. "But I am proud that the boys managed to get the victory. "We still have a single events coming up and the confidence is now high for the boys.”

In the elementary division, the team of Francis Lambayan, Marc Nicole Suson, Francis Hidalgo and Fahd Kenneth Banico settle only for bronze.

In elementary boys table tennis,  the foursome combination of Lloyd Lebosada, John Aroma, Jayvee Asong of Severeno Duterte Memorial Elementary School of Danao City and Alvin Credo of Dumaguete City produced CV's second gold of the day after they dominated Region IV-A, 3-1, in the finals.

Their secondary counterparts in Francis Acaso, Vence Flores, Jerome Empuesto and Philippie Honoridez could only hand a silver after losing to Western Visayas, 0-3, in the championship.

In taekwondo, the host region grabbed two gold medals courtesy of Clement Tan from the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu in the secondary boys individual pomsae and Charmaine Albarracin in the elementary girls individual pomsae.

In arnis, Maximo Caballes, Jr., who produced CV's first gold, sustained his momentum to mint another gold for the region, this time in the secondary boys Anyo individual double indentical weapon.

Over at the pool, the Central Visayas tankers faltered once more in coming up with a golden showing, picking up only two silvers and two bronzes.  Sophia Gravador (38.44sec) and Rian Marco Tirol (36.14sec) bagged silver medals in the 50m breastroke event, while the group of Tirol, Matthew Magale, Val Andre Chu and Frederic Chiongbian got a double bronze medal in the 200m and 4X50m medley relay.

In other events, Myla Agus bagged a silver and bronze in the secondary girls 60m distance and single fita event, while Enrico Avila became the lone medallist for the elementary athletics team with a bronze medal in the 100m dash.

In basketball, CV's elementary and secondary boys basketball team both advanced in the quarterfinal round after whipping their respective rivals at the Lamberto Macias Gymnasium. The Cevees stunned the National Capital Region, 35-30, in the elementary division, while their secondary comrades edged out Davao, 81-74. — with Philippine STAR News Service

Meanwhile, NCR's tanker Regina Erin Castrillo shone the brightest by coming through his third record-breaker and a fifth gold medal even as Central Luzon swimmer Rafael Barreto and NCR gymnast Regine Reynoso harvested four mints apiece yesterday.

The 12-year-old Castrillo came through with the worthiest performance as she smashed a third mark in two days, this time eclipsing the six-year record of 2:37.87 NCR's Ingrid Illustre set in Koronadal, South Cotabato by submitting 2:37.16 in the 200m individual medley for elementary girls.

She then buckled down to work to add the 100m free and 4x100-m medley relay to her gold haul to emerge as not only the most be-medalled athletes thus far with five but also with most marks she re-arranged with three.

"It's not surprising that she (Castrillo) is winning because not only she's determined but she also worked and prepared hard for this event," said Castrillo's coach Luika Dacanay, a former Palarong Pambansa multiple gold medal winner herself and a former Southeast Asian Games silver medalist.

Castrillo ripped the standard in the 50m fly as she timed in 29.68 in the prelims that surpassed a 17-year-old record of 30.65 forged by Central Visayas' Lynette Ang in Koronadal, South Cotabato. She later led the NCR to the 4x50m medley relay gold in 2:13.52, erasing the seven-year mark of 2:14.31 also set by NCR in Naga City.

Barreto, 13, came through with his fourth gold in the 100meter freestyle by clocking 58.24 seconds while shattering the 13-year-old record of 58.61 forged by NCR's Ronald Guiriba in the Millenium edition of the Palaro in Bacolod City.

The Guiguinto, Bulacan unleashed a gold rush as early as Day One when he copped the 200m freestyle, 50m butterfly and led the 4x50m medley relay team of Beaver Jess Pangan, McTracy John Alindogan and Marc Audrey Santos.

It was also the second record-breaker for Barreto, who smashed the four-year mark of 2.09.33 set by Davao's Omar Philip Dacera in Tacloban in the 200-m free the day before.

Reynoso, for her part, weaved her magic at the Norsu Cultural Center  where she added the floor exercise and horse vault golds for secondary girls artistic gymnastics to join Barreto in the elite quadruple gold medal club. — with Philippine STAR News Service (FREEMAN)