Cebuano dancesport duo: ‘We are very honored to once again represent our country’
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The dancesport pair of Pearl Marie Cañeda and Wilbert Aunzo continues to bring pride to Cebu as they recently bagged medals in the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) held in Vietnam.
Caneda and Azuno, who are a couple, bagged two bronze medals and one silver in the biennial meet that started on May 12, 2022 and will last until May 23.
Cañeda, in a post on Facebook, thanked the people who supported their journey in this year’s SEA Games.
“Extremely thankful to all the people who supported the Dancesport Team Philippines in the 31st SEA Games. We are very honored to once again represent our country. Maraming Salamat Pilipinas!” she said.
In the previous edition of the Games in Manila, dancesport produced the most medals for the Philippines, with 10 of the 12 being gold.
During the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held in December 2019, Cañeda and Aunzo won three gold medals in the Latin discipline competition as they dominated the slow samba, chacha, and rumba categories.
READ: SEA Games: Cebuano dancesport pair Aunzo, Cañeda, bags 3 gold medals
Cañeda and Aunzo, during their previous interview, said they started appreciating and learning dance sport when they were aged nine and 14 years old, respectively.
Cañeda said she used to go swimming at the pool right across the dance sport studio in the Cebu City Sports Complex and it paved the way for her discovery of the sport.
Aunzo, on the other hand, tried the sport because he heard that there were a lot of girls who went to train for dancesport and he wanted to find a girlfriend.
READ: How dancesport grassroots program saved SEA Games gold medallist Aunzo’s life
Little did he know that he and partner Cañeda will go on to become a nine-time national youth champion and clinch a youth title in the World Latin Championship in Australia.
The pair would later bring inspiration to Cebuanos who also aspire to make it to the national and international dancesport level.
Early this year, the pair finished 28th out of 135 pairs in the World Dance Sports Federation (WDSF) Universal Championships in Este town in Padua, Italy.
/bmjo
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PH pair shows SEA Games worth in Universal tilt
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