MANILA, Philippines - Palarong Pambansa standout Khristel Marriel Punzalan and Muntinlupa City bet Chistropher Allen Lim paced the qualifying round of the junior girls and boys divisions of the artistic gymnastics competitions of the POC-PSC National Games at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum last Wednesday.
A triple gold medallist in last week’s Palaro in Pangasinan, Punzalan led the junior girls preliminaries with an all-around tally of 41.89 points drawn from 11.6 points in the floor exercise, 10.13 in the balance beam, 8.38 in the uneven bars and 11.74 in the vault.
Raya Ermita Nazario (38.5) and Sofia Gonzales (36.86) were running second and third, respectively, in the meet backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and organized by the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines led by former PSC commissioner Cynthia Carrion.
Also leading the way in the boys junior division qualifying was Lim, who had a top all-around score of 36.55 points after posting 12.025 in the floor exercise,6.25 in the parallel, 11.7 in the vault.
In second spot was Manila’s Jan Gwyn Timbing (36.05) while Muntilupa’s Rafael Ablaza (33.643) was in third place.