MANILA, Philippines – In the closing hours of competition, Team PLDT continued to flex its muscles, overwhelming the field in volleyball, darts and cheer dance for a virtual wire-to-wire domination of the 2016 MVP Olympics set to end in an elaborate closing rites at the Meralco grounds in Pasig last night.
With only the medals in 10K and 5K runs to be disputed, PLDT has secured the overall championship with Maynilad and Meralco poised to finish second and third in the 12-day sports meet among 11 corporate teams under the MVP Group of Companies.
The phone company thus made a successful title defense with a runaway medal haul of 21 gold, 11 silver and seven bronze medals for 152 points under the scoring system used in the sports conclave participated in by around 2,000 employee-athletes under the care of businessman-philantropist-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan.
Maynilad had a gold-silver-bronze-points harvest of 12-11-9 (111), followed by Meralco with 6-13-11 (91), MPTC with 6-9-10 (77), Smart/Sun 3-3-9 (42), MPHG 2-1-2 (17), MediaQuest 0-3-1 (11), Philex 1-0-0-5 and SPi Global 0-0-2-4. ePLDT and MPIC which finished without a medal and a point.
The Tollways team waged a searing last-day charge, narrowly missing the Top Three with a four-gold haul in dancesport.
The MPTC pairs of Christian Eroles and Leilani Marie Medina ruled Grade A-Latin, Lhito Yanga and Beverly Princess Vergara Grade B-Latin, Raul Ignacio and Ma. Corazon Joy Orig Grade E Executive-Standard and Rommel Cenizal and Mona Lissa Sanson Grade E Executive-Latin.
PLDT and Maynilad won two gold medals each in the exciting event. PLDT’s Andrew Mark Tabia and Rhona Navarette topped the Grace C-Standard, and Jan Jan Eledana and Jocelyn Feliciano Grace C-Latin while Maynilad’s Jeric Daniel Axalan and Jannebelle Dellosa reigned in Grade B-Standard and Dan Mark Blanco and Aubrey Servanez in Grade A-Standard.
PLDT showed up the opposition and wowed the crowd in cheerdance while the PLDT spikers swept top honors in volleyball before a full-packed crowd at the Meralco Gym
The PLDT men waylaid their Maynilad foes and the women whipped their Meralco counterparts in the volleyball finales.
It’s PLDT, Meralco then Maynilad in cheerdance.
In the darts competition sponsored by Outback Steakhouse, PLDT wound up on top followed by Meralco and MPTC.
Longtime national rifle shooter Emerito Concepcion and partner James del Rosario pulled off a gold-medal performance in 9-ball scotch doubles in billiards, helping Meralco cushion the last-gasp charge of the Tollways team.
Concepcion and Del Rosario beat out PLDT’s Felimon Gonzales and Fermar Menguito in the gold-medal round.
Smart/Sun capped its three-gold haul in topping the Executive 2-ball event courtesy of Edgardo Frianela and Edgardo San Gabriel. The silver medal went to the MediaQuest pair of Chot Reyes and Antonio Apolonio while the bronze was taken by the MPHG duo of Raymund Del Val and James Edward Mangaoil.