Niños resume golden assault

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  —  A day after the games were swept away by super typhoon 'Pablo', the Cebu City Niños wasted no time in resuming their golden assault through the medal-rich athletics and swimming events of the 2012 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet here.

Action in all events resumed yesterday upon the behest of the Department of Education (DepED)-7 officials as the weather turned fine already.

The competition, however, started only at 1pm as the local executives of Dumaguete ordered a complete clean-up around the city in the morning including some of the venues of the regional meet.

Despite the one-day postponement, CVIRAA technical director Danillo Villadolid said there no need to extend the five-day athletic meet that will end on Friday as they have already made some adjustments on the schedule of games.

“We already made a plan in adjusting to the situation. We decided to start the game early so that we can finish more in one day. We also need to start early since we can’t do games in the evening because of the fact there is still no electricity,” Villadolid said.

The Niños sustained their sizzling run in swimming, with Karen Mae Indaya breaking the ice for the Cebu City contingent after a cold, stormy Tuesday at the Lorenzo Teves Aqua Center. The decorated University of Cebu (UC) mermaid topped the secondary girls 100m backstroke with the time of one minute and 21.95 seconds, outlasting her teammate Tara Kyla Ebon (1:24:00) as Shane Patulas of host Dumaguete placed third in of 1:32:30.

Justine Garrido delivered two golds in the 50m freestyle and in the 100m breaststroke, even as the Niños swept the gilts in the secondary boys 4x100m medley and in the girls 4x50m freestyle relay.

The rest of Cebu City tankers who minted golds during the second day of action in the multi-sport joust were Michael Ichiro Kong in the 200m butterfly, Beth Mae Arellano in the girls 100m freestyle, Tristan Kirk Ebon in the 800m freestyle, Beth Mae Arellano in 100m backstroke and Cythjune Guden, who grabbed twin golds in the secondary boys 100m and 200m breaststroke.

At the Lamberto C. Macias Sports and Cultural Complex, the Niños bagged two golds in athletics courtesy of Raul Perez, Jr. and Doren Romeral. Perez topped the secondary boys 110m hurdles with the time of 15.13 seconds, while Romeral lorded it over in the girls side with a 16.90 clocking.

In sepak takraw, Cebu City advanced to the semifinal round after two straight victories against Mandaue and Tagbilaran.

In the unofficial medal count, Team Cebu City zoomed ahead of the pack with 35 gold, 12 silver and five bronze medals. (FREEMAN)