Saturday, March 29, 2008 Cebuanos harvest gold medals in CVRAA
THE Cebu City Niños surged to the top of the standings of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVRAA) to pull closer to its goal to defend the overall title once more.
As of yesterday morning, the team racked up a total of 217 points, combined from the elementary and high school levels as it hauled in more medals from athletics, taekwondo and badminton in the fourth day of the regional meet yesterday in Tagbilaran, Bohol.
Cebu City currently enjoys the leader board without a morsel of threat that it will be shaken out of the top of the overall ranking.
Currently taking second place is Dumaguete City, which is far behind with 79.5 points, Cebu province had 76 points at third, while host Bohol is at fourth with 48.
In taekwondo, Cebu City dominated over the rest with a total of 13 golds.
Cebu City had six golds in the elementary division and seven in the secondary category.
For Boys Elementary, Brian Fernadez of the fifth category had the lone gold while in the Girls Category, it was Kalyka Carcel of the second, Janica Ibarra of the fifth, Kate Nacorda of the first and Mucoa Despabaladero of the sixth all captured gold medals.
For the Secondary Level Boys, Rovel Mendoza of the finweght category, Lord Jay Guia of the flyweight category and John Mark Bas of the lightweight category all brought home golds.
In the girls side, Jesset Paglinawan of the bantamweight, Hazel Tanya Jumawan of the featherweight category, Jenessa Vergara of the lightweight category and Angelita Dangla of the welterweight category contributed to the gold haul.
Yesterday, the track and field athletes of the University of Cebu pulled off another strong performance that helped Cebu City in padding the lead.
Lindley Navaja added another feather in his cap after scoring three more gold medal winning performances. Navaja won the 100-meter, 400-meter and the 200-meter run. Teammate Jee Ann Racoma won a gold in the girls 100-meter event.
The other winners at the tracks of Carlos P. Garcia sports complex are Carl Dharl Pitogo, who topped the 100-meter hurdles and won a bronze in the long jump event, Carl Malazarte (3,000-meter steeplechase) and Sheena Gacayan (800-meter run) also went home with gold medals. Winning silver medals in their respective events were Jessica Jagna and Jade Marie Recto. Arielle Famador won a bronze, with University of Southern Philippines Foundation’s Mark Agdasiw.
The UC tracksters are not the only ones producing gold medals for Cebu City as its badminton team also chipped in its share of gold, winning eight gold medals after dominating the girls and boys singles events, boys and girls doubles and the mixed doubles competition.
In tennis, his graduation rites caused Cebuano stalwart Jacob Lagman to lose his grip and hand the win over to Cebu Province’s Fritz Satera. Lagman had a very busy Thursday as he attended his graduation rites at the St. Benedict Childhood Education Centre and had to rush to the pier to catch the last boat going to Bohol to arrive at the venue at 7:00 p.m. in time for an early 7:30 a.m. championship appointment in CVRAA.
The lack of sleep drained the energy of Lagman, who started off strong. Lagman had built up a momentum as he led 5-2. His momentum was arrested because of a sudden downpour. When the match resumed, Satera managed to claw back into contention, winning six straight games to steal Lagman’s thunder.
This is the first time Satera won over Lagman in their last three outings. Lagman had drubbed Satera in the Prince tennis competition with an 8-0 blanking last week here in Cebu. Regardless of his silver medal finish, Lagman will still represent the region in the Palarong Pambansa come April.
Another Cebu Province netter, Kimberly Uytico also hampered another gold medal for Cebu City, as she defeated Claire Lazaraga, 8-0. MCB/EKA
