DTCC athletes with Eleanor Hayco (second from left, on the podium). | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — One of Cebu’s dancesports pillars, Eleanor Hayco, and her dance partner, Lloyd Bartolini, brought home four gold medals from the recently concluded World Dance Sports Federation (WDSF) World Challenge Cup Rising Stars & Standard WDSF International Open Latin & Standard held in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
Eleanor, the wife of the “father of dancesport” and former Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) chairman Edward Hayco, brought a lean and mean Dancesport Team Cebu City (DTCC) athletes to Vietnam for the three-day international competition held from July 12-14.
After the dust settled down, Hayco and Bartolini emerged as the champion pair in the senior 2’s single dance chachacha, samba, jive, and Grade B Latin.
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Besides the four gold medals, DTCC’s other pair and real-life couple Shardie and Marjorie Abellana were able to salvage fourth place in the adult single dance samba and sixth place in the jive.
They also reached the semifinals of the adult single dance chachacha, rumba, and paso doble.
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The competition in Vietnam was held a few days after DTCC cheered on the Cebuano dancesport athletes who vied in the Palarong Pambansa 2024.
Incredibly, John Paul Mocorro and Mitchloni Dinauanao were ranked 18th among the 57 couples during the WDSF International Open Latin which coincided with the other competition in Vietnam.
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Dinauanao and Mocorro went up against dancesport couples from Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States, Mongolia, Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, and Vietnam.
To recall, Dinauanao was the most bemedalled Cebu City athlete in the Palarong Pambansa’s debut of dancesport last July 12. She paired with Francis Dave Sombal to win six gold medals.