Tagum City— The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) won three of its four championship matches in boxing yesterday but the gold harvest may not just be enough to save the delegation from suffering one of its worst finishes in the history of the Palarong Pambansa.
Cviraa will go into today’s final day of competition mired at sixth place. As of press time last night, Cviraa had a harvest of 16 gold medals, 20 silvers and 23 bronzes.
Perennial champion National Capital Region (NCR) is comfortably ahead with 82 golds, 62 silvers and 57 bronzes. At second place is Region 4-A with a 47-37-41 (gold-silver-bronze) tally.
Occupying the third spot is Region 6 with a 34-42-34 harvest. At fourth, the Cordillera Administrative Region at 20-17-14 followed by Region 10 at 18-10-29.
Region 7’s worst finish in the annual multi-sporting event is seventh. It was crowned overall champion in 1994 when the competition was hosted by Cebu City. After that championship run, Cviraa became a consistent fourth-place finisher until it finished third in the 2013 Palaro held in Dumaguete City. In last year’s Palaro held in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, Cviraa ranked fourth once again.
Cviraa had a strong showing in boxing, where it had four bets in the five championship fights.
Of the five Region 7 boxers, Gerwin Asilo (40-kilogram division) was the only who failed to make it to the final round.
John Niño Vega started Cviraa’s rampage by winning the light mosquito category with a unanimous win over Region 6’s Dindo Sabillo Jr., a first cousin of former world champion Merlito Sabillo.
Lloyd Jabez Antoque followed suit, scoring his own unanimous win over Anthony Quintana of Region 5 in the light paper weight category.
Winning his third gold in Palaro, Vicente Sios-e Jr. also stamped his class by winning the pin weight contest via a split decision victory over Ramel Landa of Region 13.
Kit Ceron Garces was unlucky as he bowed to a rugged Jayson Mama of Region 12 via a split decision loss in the light flyweight category.
“He couldn’t adjust to the style of his opponent who clung a lot. He was thrown out of his rhythm,” said coach Judy Carollo.
Incidentally, Vega Antoque and Sios-e all train at the fabled ALA Boxing Gym.
“It’s a big help that we get to train in the same gym with the likes of Donnie Nietes, Jason Pagara and Milan Melindo train. We learn a lot just by watching them train,” said Vega, a first-timer in the Palaro.
Also winning gold yesterday were Lyrden Laborte and Neil John Navarette in the badminton elementary individual doubles event.
Daniela Reggie Dela Pisa chipped in a gold medal in the clubs event of the elementary rhythmic gymnastics while also bagging silvers in the hoop, freehand and rope contests.
Angela Cabaral also nailed a gold medal for Cviraa in the tennis secondary girls’ singles event.
Typifying its struggle in the week-long multi-sporting event, Cviraa will only figure in one championship game today with the volleyball elementary girls going up against Region 4-A.
Region 7’s campaign for a stellar finish hit a major snag after the secondary basketball team lost to Region 3 in their semifinal match yesterday, 61-71.
It will also mark for the first time in a long while that Region 7 will not contend for the gold in football. The elementary team failed to advance to the playoff round, while the secondary team dropped its quarterfinal match against NCR last Thursday night, 1-5.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
