The Cebu City Niños continued to dominate the swimming event of the ongoing Philippine National Games (PNG) Visayas Qualifying by adding 11 gold medals yesterday at the Binirayan swimming pool, in Antique.
The second day harvest brings to a tournament-best 20 golds the powerhouse swimming Niños have so far collected.
Michael Ichiro Kong again led the Niños charge at the pool by adding two gold medals yesterday in the 200m freestyle and 100m Individual Medley (IM). Romylin Nina Ignacio also snatched two gold medals by ruling the girls 100m backstroke and 400m Individual Medley.
Trina Caneda also bagged a gold and a silver in the 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke, respectively while Jaymark Buslon and Bethmay Arellano got one gold apiece in the 50m butterfly. Nil Enrico Micarsos topped the boys 200m breaststroke.
Shane Allyne Pareja also contributed gold to the Niños’ cause by topping the girls 200m breastsroke while Fritz Tamara finished first in the 100m freestyle.
The men’s 4x50m freestyle relay quartet of Kong, Micarsos, Rafael John Dacaldacal and Tamara also drowned the opposition and snatched the gold with plenty to spare. The women’s 4x50m freestyle relay, however, only settled for the silver medal. The squad is composed of Arellano, Elvie Salvo, Ignacio and Caneda.
Dacaldacal also won two silver medals in the 200m breaststroke and 100m backstroke while Tamara added a silver in the 50m breaststroke.
Jebic Oriesga grabbed the bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke while Jericho also finished third in the 1,500m freestyle.
The Niños are leading the swimming medals table with a huge margin after tallying 20 golds, 10 silver and 6 bronze medals (unofficial tally). The host Team Antique is far behind the Cebuanos with 3 golds, 12 silvers and 12 bronzes while Maasin City is third overall with 2 golds, 2 silvers and 5 bronzes.
Today will be the last day of PNG swimming events.
CHESS
Cebuana woodpusher Keith Claire Carlisle Morala put up a gallant stand against hometown bet Denny Canaja of Antique, but failed to emerge on top of the PNG chess competition. Morala lost to Canaja in the gold medal match to settle for the silver medal.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Cheryl Cuico of Lyceum of Cebu wound up as the best Cebuana finisher in the 44-48 category of weightlifting competition after she finished eighth in the tournament with a total score of 68.
Cuico received 30 points in the opening round and capped off her campaign with 38 points in the last round. /CorresPondents James Nicole Franz R. Savellon and John Carlo Villaruel