Injured CV’s Marvin Rafols settles silver in the triplejump event secondary boys in Palarong Pambansa in Antique. (CDNPHOTO/TONEE E. DESPOJO)
Cviraa ends medal drought but still drops to sixth place
San Jose, Antique —The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) snapped out of a two-day slump but still continued to walk the tightrope in the overall race of the 60th Palarong Pambansa here.
Cviraa captured five gold medals yesterday but it was not enough to save the Bisdaks from slipping to sixth overall from fifth the previous day.
With just three days left in the week-long meet, Cviraa must up the ante to meet its target of finishing second in the 18-region field. It finished fourth last year.
Region 7 has eight gold medals, six silvers and 13 bronzes.
Defending champion National Capital Region (NCR) continued to tighten its grip of the top spot with 50 golds, 27 silvers and 20 bronzes.
Region 6 is in second place with 14 golds, seven silvers and 11 bronzes, while Negros Island Region (NIR) is in third spot with a 10-11-11 (g-s-b) tally followed by Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (10-8-8) and Region 4-A (9-21-23)
Contributing to Cviraa’s productive output yesterday was archer Lloyd Apawan who dominated the boys’ 60-meter event. Cviraa also got a gold in secondary boys badminton team tie event at the expense of Region 4-A.
Joel Barriga defeated his opponent in the singles event, 21-18, 16-21, 21-8, but Anthone Pete Abellana and Dean Harvey Tungul lost in the doubles, 18-21, 17-21.
Carl Bernard Bejasa saved Cviraa by winning in the deciding game, 18-21, 21-10, 21-16.
Also winning gold was the duo of Leigh Erika Villanueva and Lindy Marie Darlo, who beat their opponents from NIR, 3-0, in the table tennis doubles secondary girls.
Region 7 also topped the table tennis elementary boys’ doubles after Jebb Jerwin Datahan and Eric Christopher Arbasto defeated their opponents from NCR, 3-0.
First gold in athletics
Also shining bright for Cviraa was Boholana Riza Jane Valiente, who defended her crown in the secondary girls’ 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03:10 for the region’s first gold at the tracks.
“I just did my best because I knew expectations were high for me after I won the event last year.
There was also a little pressure since I knew we have not been winning in athletics so I was really determined to help the team,” said Valiente, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at La Union National High School in Candijay, Bohol.
Top bets falter
Valiente’s victory saved Cviraa from another empty run in athletics as top bets John Marvin Rafols and Samantha Gem Limos failed to defend their titles.
Still hobbled by a left hamstring injury, Rafols settled for silver in the secondary boys’ triple jump event, while Limos could only come up with a bronze in the secondary girls’ 100m dash.
Rafols was gunning for redemption after he pulled out from Tuesday’s long jump due to his injury but could only come up with a 14.50m jump to lose the crown to Region 2’s Aljin Gomez, who tallied 14.59.
Limos, on the other hand, timed 12.55 in her event, which was won by Biance Jane Combate of Region 8 in 12.38.
Limos was just a shadow of what she was in last year’s Palaro where she won the event in 12.1 seconds, nearly breaking the record of Nancy Navalta, who clocked 11.90 in the 1997 Palaro in Naga City, Camarines Sur.
Contributing a silver yesterday was Charles Laveste in the secondary boys’ taekwondo poomsae.
Producing bronze medals were the secondary girls and elementary boys table tennis teams, the badminton elementary girls and boys squads and the lawn tennis elementary girls team.