Tac's girl pulls off reversal

MANILA, Philippines - On a day when reigning pistol champion Nathaniel “Tac” Padilla suffered an unprecedented two consecutive setbacks, his daughter – Assumption College high school senior Mica – rose to record an upset victory in the 2009 national shooting championships at the PSC range in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City last Sunday.

“Maybe I was just lucky, but winning for the first time in a national event definitely made me feel happy and excited,” said the 16-year-old Mica after firing 537 points to beat favored Shanin Gonzales (531) and Elvie Baldivino (512) and bag the gold medal in the women’s sports pistol competition.

The young Padilla has already broken the Southeast Asian Games’ criteria in the women’s air pistol team event together with Gonzales and Ruth Ricardo. She’s also scheduled to compete in the Asian shooting championships on Nov. 1-8 in Bangkok.

Mica’s dad Tac, who has already qualified to compete for a record 16th time in the SEAG, faltered in the men’s standard pistol and air pistol events. Tired and worn out due to problems caused by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, the 45-year-old general manager of their family-owned Spring Cooking Oil lost to Ronald Hejastro in standard pistol and Carolino Gonzales and Mark Lorenz Manosca in air pistol.