Batang Pinoy Nat’l Finals: Cebu City’s title bid suffers major blow

Cebu City’s hope of hauling more gold medals and snatch the overall crown of the 2014 Batang Pinoy National Finals in Bacolod City suffered a major blow on Friday after the city’s 21-man dancesports team was stranded in Toledo City due to typhoon “Basyang.”
The group composed of 19 dancers and two trainers were prevented from crossing the Tañon Strait to Bacolod after the Philippine Coastguard grounded all sea vessels.
Typhoon “Basyang” is expected to make landfall in Cebu today.
Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) Chairman Edward Hayco, who is already in Bacolod, said this development is a major blow to the city’s campaign since the vaunted Team Cebu City Dancesports is capable of winning 25 gold medals.
According to the Batang Pinoy webpage, Cebu city finished second overall last year with a 42-35-37 gold-silver-bronze haul. Baguio City topped last year’s meet for 15 year-old and under athletes with a 54-32-37 harvest while Quezon City (28-21-47) came in third.
“Sayang kay mao unta atong kusog nga team for gold medal kay last year we won 35 gold medals in dancesport alone. Amu nalang sila gipabalik sa Cebu City gikan Toledo City kay dili man jud sila palabangon tungod sa bagyo,” Hayco lamented.
Dancesports competition was supposed to start today.
11 GOLD MEDALS SO FAR
As of this writing, Cebu City has already collected 11 gold medals, eight silvers and six bronzes coming from athletics, karatedo, swimming, weightlifting, chess, cycling, triathlon and taekwondo.
Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s (SHS-AdC) Val Andrei Chiu accounted for Cebu City’s lone gold at the pool after ruling the boys 50-meter freestyle. University of Cebu’s (UC) Michael Ichiro Kong bagged two silver medals in the 200-meter and 100m butterfly and a bronze in the 400m individual medley.
In boxing, three Cebuano pugs advanced to the gold medal round after winning their semifinal bouts yesterday. Kit Ceron Garces, Marvin Pomar and Mark Anthony Rotilles will fight for golds today.
Garces defeated Jerome Sibal of Mandaluyong City in the 42.1-48kg division while Pomar routed Manuel Cabriga of Tayabas,Quezon in their 40kg division match. Rotilles meanwhile, nipped Ian Rafael Dagami of Cabadbaran in the 52.1-54kg division.
TAEKWONDO DELIVERS
Meanwhile, the Raul Luna-mentored taekwondo team has won a gold, a silver and lone bronze medal.
Luna relayed to Cebu Daily News that Kylle John Flores won gold in his division at the Bacolod City High School while his teammates Zozen Prajes and Florlyn Cabo bagged silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ana Patricia Maximo added another medal to her collection after winning silver in the mountain bike event at the New Airport Road in Bacolod City. Last Thursday, she won gold in the road bike event.
The 14-year old Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Cebu student finished seven seconds behind winner Maia Yusay of Bacolod City who crossed the finish line in 36 minutes and 50 seconds. Rounding out the podium finishers was Mikaela Paulina who clocked 43 minutes and 14 seconds.
Maximo actually led the pack but failed to sustain her place due to the strong winds and her unfamiliarity with her equipment.
“That was the first time I get to race a mountainbike. I didn’t even have the time to practice with it since we knew late that the organizers are putting up an MTB event,” the youngster said. /with reports from correspondents Jonas Panerio and Jade S. Violeta