Aklanon athletes power WV to overall arnis champ
KALIBO, Aklan – Two more golds from Aklanon arnis athletes powered the Western Visayas delegation as overall secondary boys arnis champion in the fifth day of the 2010 Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac Christian College Gym.
Western Visayas topped the arnis event (secondary boys) with 15 points followed by Northern Mindanao with 10 points and Bicol region with 7 points.
WV delegation assistant athletic manager Mary Ann Lopez said pinweight Venndelle Magdael of Regional Science High School and extra lightweight John Freche Bautista outclassed their rivals to spearhead the Western Visayas in arnis.
The 15-year old Bautista stamped his class in the full contact extra lightweight (over 55 kgs to 60 kgs) against rival Ronald Romero of Bicol region. Magdael also dominated the full contact pinweight (over 43 kgs to 47 kgs) for the gold medal against Reymer Peralta of Central Luzon.
Jeremiah Estrada of Regional Science High School also placed third in full contact featherweight (over 51 to 55 kgs).
The medal haul in arnis brought to four the number of gold medals for the five-man Aklan team with the trio of Rainer Paul Vallejo, Estrada and Magdael dominating the anyo team single weapon and anyo team double weapon.
Vallejo also pocketed the silver medal in the anyo individual event double identical weapon and the bronze in individual single weapon of the arnis competition.
Meanwhile, 14-year old Ma. Jessa Valeriano of Western Aklan Academy in Nabas, Aklan bagged the gold in 800m run secondary girls clocking 2:20:50 and the silver in 1,500m with a time of 5:01.7. Vanessa del Valle of Region IV-A (Southern Tagalog) clocked 4:58.78 to cart away the gold.
In the secondary girls long jump, Aklan’s bet 15-year old Cyrenejoy Magbanua lept 5.09 meters, but, missed the bronze medal by 0.01 meter against third placer Felyn Dolloso, also of Western Visayas.
Twelve year old Jerrymay Rubias also grabbed the silver in the elementary javelin throw with 35.63 meters against gold medalist Gia Bucag of Central Visayas with a record 40.63 meters. Bucag erased the 39.63 meters record of Elena Camiring of Western Mindanao in the 2008 edition of Palarong Pambansa.
In boxing, light flyweight (48 kgs) Noriel Pellio lost by points 7-6 against Eastern Visayas boxer bet Modesto Veloso in the elimination round while former Palarong Pambansa gold medalist pinweight boxer Macky Delfin was disqualified in Round 1 against Jeric Fernando of Zamboanga Peninsula in the semifinals.
In volleyball, Aklan-led elementary boys dumped Cagayan Valley in straight sets, 25-21, 25-16 yesterday, to register its first win in three games.
In a related development, triple gold medalist Alyssa Marie Andrade of Dumaguit Elementary School broke the Palarong Pambansa records in triple jump with a leap of 10.80 meters and long jump with 5.07 meters. She also won the gold in the century dash for elementary girls with an impressive 13.39 seconds held at Tarlac Recreational Park.
With the theme, “Play for the Region, Win for the Nation,” the Palarong Pambansa slated from April 11 to 17, 2010 is hosted by the province of Tarlac and co-hosted by the Department of Education Central Luzon and the DepEd Division ofTarlac.
Fifteen sports events in the elementary division and 17 in the secondary division were contested by more than 10,000 athletes from 17 regions. Special events are included such as Search for the Mr. & Ms. Palaro 2010, Unity Cheerdance, Dancesports and Special Games for Persons with disability. (Boy Ryan B. Zabal)
