Igot’s Archery medal sweep highlights Niños gold haul for the day

Aldrener Igot Jr.proudly shows offhis eight gold medals in archery. | Mars G. Alison

PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN, Philippines — Archer Aldrener Igot Jr.’s eight gold medal sweep highlighted the Cebu City Niños nine gold medal haul in the penultimate day, Friday, August 30, 2019, of the Batang Pinoy National Championships which is held in various venues here.

This brings the Cebu City Niños total number of gold medals to 35. 

The 14-year-old Igot capped his second Batang Pinoy national stint with two more gold medals via the team trio and mixed team to bring his total to eight gold medals. This means that he ruled all of his eight events in the archery competition here.

The grade 8 student of the Don Carlos Gothong Memorial National High School joined Khalil Jusper Abella and Kier Zhyron Torreon for the gold in the team trio and Densil Shane Dinopol for the gold in the mixed team.

“Happy ko nga naka gold ko sa tanang event,” said Igot, adding that “wala ko ga expect nga makuha nako tanan medal kay national na baya na nya daghan na lig-on.”

(I am happy that I got the gold in all my events. I didn’t expect that I’ll be able to get all because this is already the nationals, and there are a lot of strong contenders here.)

In last year’s Batang Pinoy nationals in Baguio City, Igot only managed two bronze medals.

His achievement also surpassed the six gold medals and one silver that he bagged in last March’s Batang Pinoy Visayas regionals in Iloilo City.

“First of all, my inspiration is God, my family, teammates, my friends and my coaches, Beltran (Ma. Teresita), sir Solier (Michael) and sir Dondon (Rosendo Sombrio),” said Igot.

The Cebu City Niños archery team with coach Ma. Teresita Beltran (extreme left) and assistant coach Michael Solier (in blue). | Mars G. Alison

Rosendo Sombrio is the Southeast Asian and Asian gold medalists in archery who designed the PVC bow which the Niños archers started training with as part of the grassroots program of the Cebu City Sports Commission.

The Cebu City archery team is coached by Ma. Teresita Beltran with Michael Solier as assistant coach.

The rest of the nine gold medals for Cebu City were contributed by its boxers with two, arnisadors with three, and one each from triathlon and wrestling.

Carron Paulter Cañas started the medal haul for the Niños when he topped the boys 11-12 category in the triathlon-turned-aquathlon event.

The technical committee of triathlon decided to turn the event into an aquathlon because the area surrounding the pool was muddy due to heavy rains and was no longer safe for biking.

The change proved to be a blessing for the 11-year-old athlete who is competing in his first Batang Pinoy nationals.

“Kung naa pa toy bike mapildi na ko kay kuhaon man ko nila sa biking,” said Cañas.

(If there was biking, I would have lost because they would have targeted to get me in the bike.)

Cañas was third out of the swim but managed to take the lead just 100 meters into the run. He then held on to that lead and crossed the finish line with a time of 15 minutes and .06 seconds (15:06).

Cebu City Niños boxing gold medalists Pathricia Mae Sumalinog and Bienjemar Codoy. Both won via split decisions in the boxing competition of the Batang Pinoy National Championships at the Mendoza Park in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. | Mars G. Alison

The two boxers who contributed gold medals were Pathricia Mae Sumalinog and Bienjemar Codoy. Both won via split decisions. Sumalinog won over Mary Car Vicente of Cagayan de Oro to bag the gold in the junior girls light flyweight (48kgs) while Codoy won over John Paul Napoles of General Santos to clinch the gold in the junior boys light flyweight (48kgs). Their teammate, Arielle Garth Ramas handed in a bronze.

Accounting for the lone gold in wrestling was Baby Jane Genovia via the girls 12-13 40kgs.

The rest of the gold medals were handed in once again by the arnisadors— Porfirio Añana Jr., Rolando Mahinay Jr. and the team which is made up of Veronica Sa-onoy, Sharmaine Lazaga and Lora Loraine Ann Acebuche. 

As of the midday release of list of official medal tally by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) defending champion Baguio City is leading the gold tally with 40.

The Niños still have a chance to add to their medals via chess, duathlon, gymnastics, and taekwondo while  they will be fighting for a bronze in softball, Saturday, August 31, the last day of competition.