CEBU CITY--A total of six Cagayan de Oro boxers are now vying for gold in the final day of action in the 2018 Philippine National Games, which culminated Friday, May 25.
The foursome of Sugar Rey Ocana, Mark Lester Durens, John Ignatius Macas and John Paul Panauyan disposed of their respective semifinal opponents on Thursday night at the New Cebu Coliseum.
Ocana prevailed over Ramjes Colina of host Cebu City via unanimous decision in the elite men’s light flyweight division.
Durens outclassed Carl Jeffrey Basil of Baguio City with a unanimous decision win in their youth men’s light flyweight bout.
Macas eliminated his teammate Jordge Nuez, who is also a member of the Philippine men’s boxing team, in another unanimous decision in the youth men’s light flyweight.
Panuayan was more impressive in making it to the final round as he stopped Reymart Soledad of Victorias in 1:23 minutes of the second round in young men’s light welterweight tiff.
Oro’s female boxers-- Jena Baja and Elaide Pamisa-- were the first to advance in the boxing finals.
Meanwhile, Team CdeO slids to 29th from 20th place with four golds, four silvers and 10 bronzes in the partial and official medal count as of 4 pm on Thursday.
The additional bronze came from karatedo’s Marc Ian Naguita in the men’s individual kumite -84kgs senior division.
Naguita, a third year BS electronic communications student of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, won by points, 9-2 in the quarterfinals.
But Naguita never took risk to fight in the semifinals after sustaining a a shoulder injury off a block on a powerful kick by his
quarterfinal foe.
“Dili angay pugson ni Ian kay peligro,” said his coach Judy Romorosa.
Attending physicians said Naguita’s left shoulder is still aligned and out of danger.
Host Cebu City takes the front in the medal race with 33 golds, 48 silvers and 50 bronzes, followed by Baguio City with 31 golds, 29 silvers and 27 bronzes.
Mandaluyong City came in third with 22-12-13 (gold-silver-bronze), while General Santos City (16-22-25) and Zamboanga City (14-6-13) occupied fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Rounding up the the top-10 are Mandaue City (12-7-7), Cebu Province (11-14-20), Leyte Province (11-5-3), Pangasinan (10-9-9) and Quezon City (9-14-19).
Iligan City remained as the top-performing Region-10 delegation at 15th place with seven golds, nine silvers and 21 bronzes.
Team CdeO can overtake Iligan for the region’s supremacy if its six boxers would end up triumphant in the finals.