POF national championships under way

The second Philippine Olympic Festival stages its National Championships beginning today at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex with a new breed of stars expected to emerge from the week-long multi-sports competition.

Around 3,000 athletes who made the grade in the regional qualifying games will be ranged against the members of the national team when they compete in 17 events and two demonstration sports.

Philippine Olympic Committee and POF chairman Robert Aventajado will grace the opening ceremony at 4 p.m. along with POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, IOC representative to the RP Frank Elizalde and Philippine Sports Commission chair William Ramirez.

Zamboanga Del Norte representative Cesar Jalosjos, chairman of the House committee on youth and sports, will declare the games open.

The qualifying games held in Bicol-Southern Tagalog and Mindanao regions will offer a deep pool of future prospects in aquatics while the promising finds from track and field could surface from the Visayas and the National Capital Region.

Fil-Canadian Jami Dawn Henares of Bacolod City emerged the most promising sprinter in the qualifiers while Lawin Dacera of General Santos City and Christine Grace Tan of Batangas topped the list in swimming.

Henares has caught the attention of track and field officials after the 14-year-old lass turned in impressive clockings in the 100-meter, 200m and 400m.

Tan, 14, also made an impact after the 5-foot-5 national pool wonder bagged 12 gold medals in the pool. Tipped as the next Akiko Thomson, Tan was the most bemedalled athlete after the qualifying games.

Dacera, however, proved to be the most gifted project when he registered Triple A ratings in five of his six golden performances in the pool. A Triple A swim is considered an extraordinary effort based on international standards.

Central-Northern Luzon, which assembled its best athletes in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, will boast of the region’s martial arts specialists led by Baguio’s Anna Melissa De Leon and Jay Olod.

A prized-find by muay officials, Olod was already inserted to the national team and will compete in the coming Southeast Asian Games in Thailand while De Leon had made regional champion Baguio proud with her six gold medals in arnis.

Palarong Pambansa champion Jerome Oclaret and Manila teammate Michael Ulboc also gave a glimpse of what they could do for the national team after sweeping the throwing events of the NCR games.

The athletes will see action in aquatics, archery, athletics, baseball, basketball, football, gymnastics, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, wrestling, arnis, chess, karatedo, muay, powerlifting, sepak takraw and two demonstration sports—dragon boat and petanque. Baguio City ruled the Central-Northern Luzon games, Zamboanga dominated the Mindanao qualifying, host Iloilo walked away with the overall title in the Visayas while Manila and Laguna reigned supreme in the National Capital Region and Bicol-Southern Tagalog legs.