Shining like gold

For Cebuana rugger Aiumi Ono, bagging the silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games means a lot

Rugby football heroes: (Form left) Maggie Royo, Aiumi Ono, and Madelline Salinas. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines–For some athletes, a silver medal may not be that quite fulfilling.

It’s not the gold.

But for Cebuana rugger Aiumi Ono, the silver she bagged as team captain of the Philippine women’s rugby team in the 30th Southeast Asian Games was more than just a second place finish.

It was a chance to prove to many that one can recover from a career-threatening injury.

“This silver medal means a lot to be personally coming from a bad injury two years ago,” said Ono during an episode of the CDN Sportstalk show on Monday, December 23, 2019.

Watch the show here:

https://www.facebook.com/cdndigital/videos/576785856221518/

Ono said she suffered an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury that denied her a chance to compete in the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia. But she persevered and worked hard to bounce back.

“My dream was to come back stronger. So bagging this silver medal really boosted my confidence [and proved that] I can still do it,” Ono said.

Joining Ono in the show were two Cebuanas who also made the Philippines proud for being part of the technical crew for the biennial games.

Madelline Salinas, was the only Cebuano referee for the ruby games during the SEA Games while Maggie Royo was part of the technical officials.

Maggie Royo shared how it felt like to be one of the officials during SEA Games.

“It  takes a lot of experience to be part of the organizing team,” says Royo.

Salinas recalled a light moment she had before stepping on the field as a referee.

She said it felt as if she was part of the competing team as she felt a lot of pressure before the game.

“Before ko ni sud sa field, nag sign of the cross kog ka lima,” Salinas said with a laugh. (Before I entered the field, I had to make the sign of the cross five times.)

Both Salinas and Royo are noted players of the sport but also takes pride in building the rugby football community in Cebu. /bmjo