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Thursday, December 01, 2005
Davao's Perez now RP sports darling
By Marianne L. Saberon-Abalayan and Charles Raymond A. Maxey
MANILA -- Make way for Shiela Mae Perez, the new darling of Philippine sports.
This 19-year-old charmer from Davao City bagged not just one but three golds in the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games to emerge the first triple-gold medal winner in the biennial conclave.
Perez's feat also installed her as the newest toast in the SEA Games, and her dominating performance--winning golds in the three-meter synchronized springboard, three-meter individual springboard, and the one-meter individual springboard--provided the spark for Team Philippines' blazing start.
Perez gave her all in the final dive, doing a reverse with a one and a half somersault to come back strong for the women's one-meter springboard gold medal at the Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna Wednesday morning.
It was the third straight gold for the Dabawenya diver whose rise to stardom began at the Camp Panacan pier a decade ago.
Perez, a Sydney Olympian, amassed 267.6 points to beat stiffest rival Malaysian Leong Mun Yeen who settled for the silver with 266.3 points. The Indonesian bet got the bronze with 229.
"I'm very happy. I thought I could no longer make it because I was not the one leading the scoring in the early rounds. My last dive was the most difficult dive I ever did," she said in a phone interview.
After the final dive, which assured Perez of the gold, she was hugged by her coach and teammates who cheered her since Day 1 of the diving competitions.
Perez came to the meet with a mission to deliver the goods and redeem herself after capturing only silver and bronze in the Vietnam SEA Games two years ago.
She said the next target would be the Asian Games in Qatar in 2006, then the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"I will resume training after the Sea Games because I want to win a medal in the Asian Games and the Olympics. I would really do everything to achieve that," she added
Perez, however, said they would have to change some of her dives to make a mark in higher levels of competition.
"Coach told me that I will have to change my dives in the future. I don't have to repeat what I have done here," she said.
She also swept the three-meter springboard synchronized gold on Sunday along with fellow Dabawenyo Ceseil Domenios then clinched the gold in her favorite three-meter springboard individual event Monday.
The RP diving team is still rooting for another gold courtesy of men's 10-meter platform individual defending champion Ryan Rexel Fabriga who was still playing as of press time.
Other gold medallists in diving were Davao's Zardo Domenios and Niño Carog (men's three-meter springboard synchronized) and Fabriga with Cebu's Kelvin Kong (10-meter platform synchronized).
Zardo also got a bronze in the men's three-meter springboard individual and men's one-meter springboard individual events. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(December 1, 2005 issue)
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