CEBU CITY--Cagayan de Oro City swimming coach Edgardo “Wawang” Maut was all smiles when his women’s swimming team ended first in the 4x100 women’s relay freestyle at the end of the 2018 Philippine National Games swimming event on Wednesday, May 23, at the Abellana Sports Center poolside.
Maut, son of former Asian Games swimmer Sukarno “Boy” Maut, even raised a victory hand thinking the foursome of Tanya Barero, Kasmia Sogoc, Stephanie Asil and Lydel Puklawan finally gave the swimming delegation a gold medal.
But, little did he know that their feat was put to waste as it was not included as the `fifth gold’ for Team CdeO.
As of 4:30 pm on that day, Cagayan de Oro was in the 20th spot of the medal race with four golds, four silvers and nine bronzes.
Maut later learned that the technical officials ruled out one specific ground rule.
The rule implies that no medals shall be contested if there will be less than three participants in a swimming event.
In that case, there were only two teams competing in the 4x100 women’s relay freestyle.
As consolation, they were still given gold medals during the awarding but their first place finish did not add a gold for Team CdeO in the official medal tally.
“Ulahi na ilang abiso sa akoa nga naka-langoy na ang mga swimmers nato. Nahibulong lang ko nga kalit lang walay labot sa medal count,” Maut reacted.
In the latest medal tally as of Wednesday, host Cebu City kept the lead with 26 golds, 39 silvers and 37 bronzes.
Mandaluyong City came in second spot with 20 golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronzes, while Baguio City occupied third at 16-25-23.
General Santos City took fourth (15-18-22) followed by Manadaue City at fifth (12-6-7).
Rounding up the top-10 are Zamboanga City (12-4-8), Leyte Province (11-5-2), Pangasinan (8-8-6), Manila (8-5-10) and Pasig City (7-11-10).
Iligan City led Region 10 at 11th place with 7 golds, 8 silvers and 16 bronzes.
In table tennis, Casandra Nicole Baltar was the only one from Cagayan de Oro to make it to the top-8 in women’s singles.
Baltar’s male counterparts Dario Hernane and Vincent Dane Macalam could only manage a top-16 finish in men’s singles.
The tandem of Hernane and Macalam also made it to the top-16 men’s doubles and so the distaff duo of Antonette Neri and Baltar in women’s doubles.
“Although they failed, at least they gave a good fight and I am satistied sa ila performances. Abi gani nako kutob ra sila elimination round,” said Jaymar Rivera, the city’s sports coordinator.