Friday, April 25, 2008 Losing at the bend By Marian C. Baring Sun.Star Staff Reporter
PUERTO Princesa—It’s how you bend it.
Region 7’s Dharl Pitogo bent his head a millisecond too late to squander his chance for a gold medal in the boys high hurdles event of the 2008 Palarong Pambansa yesterday at the Ramon V. Mitra Sports Complex oval.
Pitogo, the track star from University of Cebu, placed second to National Capital Region’s Jose Unso. Because the fight was so tight, organizers spent hours before releasing the results, which was decided by a photo-finish or in yesterday’s case, a video capture at the finish line.
Apparently, Pitogo jumped the final hurdle first but at the finish line, Unso’s head was bent a just little bit ahead of Pitogo to claim the gold.
Unso clocked in 15.7 seconds for his gold medal feat, while Pitogo was timed officially at 15.9. Taking third place was NCR’s Joshua Sacro, who posted a time of 16.1 seconds.
The setback, however, was not enough to dampen the spirits of the Region 7 athletes as they continue to haul in medals.
Yesterday, the team added two more gold medals and 15 silvers from athletics, swimming, archery and gymnastics and nine bronzes.
After four days of competition, Region 7 now has a total of 16 golds, 25 silvers and 14 bronzes.
Preventing a gold medal shutout in athletics during the fourth day of hostilities was Minglanilla’s Stella Maris Malingin.
Malingin, a first-timer in the Palaro, won the gold medal in the long jump competition of the elementary girls division.
This Palaro will be Malingin’s most memorable one, after fishing a gold on her very first try. She won the gold medal in the long jump competition of the elementary girls division, where she cleared 4.61 meters
Meanwhile, carrying the brunt in archery for Region 7 was Jode-Ann Guido who won two silver medals and two bronzes. She finished second in the 50 meter and 1/2 Fita round and had a bronze in the 30 meter and Olympic round event.
The table tennis team of coach Jessica Jawad-Honoridez also finished second in the boys secondary team event.
Honoridez said the match took four hours, before the team bowed to Calabarzon region.
In football, Central Visayas won via shootout over NCR, 5-3. Scoring from the penalty spot were Manjo Mayormita, Aljohn Armamento, TJ Mateo and Fred Tan. They will play Western Visayas today and once they win to determine who gets to the championship round first.
The secondary boys tennis team is also once more nearing another gold medal finish. Larry Antigua and John Francis Largo are already waiting for their opponents in the final round after defeating bets from Regions 12, 6 and 4 yesterday.
In the singles competition, Bernardine Niño Siso moved to the third round after defeating Region 2, 8-0. The other member of the team, Israel Abarquez, was the only one to have bombed out of the competition after losing to Region 4A.
The girls doubles team of Kimberly Uytico and Elgy Dasian, moved to the semis of the doubles contest after defeating NCR and Western Visayas. (MCB)
