THE hope of surpassing Cordillera region’s 25 gold medals got dashed as the Fearless Highlander settled for a 10th place finish at the 2019 edition of the Palarong Pambansa in Davao City.

Cordillera finished the weeklong competition with 14 gold medals, 10 silver, and 24 bronze medals.

Taekwondo contributed nine gold medals in elementary and high school division while wrestling and wushu delivered two golds each and athletics came up with one gold.

National Capital Region (NCR) once again lorded the sports meet for 11 years with 86 gold, 71 silver and 56 bronze medals, followed by Calabarzon (66 gold, 49 silver and 73 bronze); Western Visayas (49 gold, 40 silver and 58 bronze); Soccsksargen (26 gold, 43 silver and 40 bronze) and Central Visayas (24 gold, 22 silver and 33 bronze).

This year’s Palaro also saw 31 record breakers in swimming; 24 in athletics; and nine in archery.

Cesar Abalon, chief of the Schools Sports Division and chairman of the Technical Management and Administration of the Department of Education (DepEd), told reporters on Friday, May 3, that this Palaro saw several record breakers and the improvement in the performance of regions such as Bicol, Soccsksargen, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Although the NCR took the biggest gold medal haul, Abalon noted that it usually pulls away with 100 golds during the national games. This time, though, the region did not break its record, he said.

Education Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo earlier said all the regions were really competitive and performing well because local governments are constructing sports facilities.

Escobedo expressed optimism that the Davao region would improve in the future with the construction of additional sports facilities and more support in terms of good training. (With a report from PNA)