DAVAO City at last zoomed to the top spot with 58 golds, 31 silvers and 25 bronzes, unseating erstwhile leader General Santos City (50-53-57) that was relegated to second place in partial and official medal tally of the Batang Pinoy Mindanao Leg as of 4 p.m. Monday in Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental.
Davao City harvested additional golds in boys’ beach volleyball, boys’ indoor volleyball, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ tennis and boxing events.
Over at the Barangay Poblacion 1 Reclamation Area sandcourt at the breakwater overlooking Iligan Bay, the D'Artagnan Yambao-coached Davao City boys’ beach volleyball team avenged its elimination round loss to General Santos City by whipping the latter, 21-14, 21-18.
"It's a sweet revenge," Yambao told SunStar Davao Monday, March 12, since they were the only ones who inflicted General Santos City its first loss in the tournament.
Davao City was composed of Yambao's son Dux Euan of the University of the Immaculate Conception (UIC) and Angelo Joshua Gonzales of the Jose Maria College (JMC).
Dux Euan, according to his father-coach, is a strong blocker and his long arms and height give him an advantage while Gonzales may be small but he is a high leaper. "His (Gonzales) quickness and anticipation in the defensive side fits their tandem," coach Yambao said. The champion pair also stunned powerhouse Tawi-Tawi, 21-16, 21-15, in Sunday's semifinals match.
Yambao thanked Felis Beach Resort that served as their practice venue for beach volleyball and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio for the financial support.
The Davao City girls’ beach volleyball team of Keith Claire Guma and April Joy Locaberte with coach Lorenzo Michael Porras at the helm settled for silver.
Dux Euan and Gonzales also formed part of the Davao City squad that clinched the gold in boys’ indoor volleyball event by walloping Panaon spikers, 25-14, 25-17, in their titular showdown.
Dinri Yambao mentored the city's boys’ indoor volleyball team that survived past Davao del Norte, 25-15, 25-23, in the semifinals. The team was also bannered by Lawrence Amador, Kaito Beldeniza, Ehrl Kent Domingo, James Lloyd Galapin, Jester Lamigo, Kobe Daniel Miranda, Elijah Johnson Plenos, Lucio Thomas Tapia and Rysell Villarte.
Davao City's girls’ indoor volleyball team bowed to Iligan City, 25-22, 21-25, 11-15, to bring home the silver.
Davao City's boys’ and girls’ basketball teams also delivered back-to-back golds. The city's boy dribblers of coach Rael Diaz demolished Zamboanga, 76-61, behind the heroics of Askiah John Echavia-Ferriols who poured in 21 baskets.
Diaz said he was elated by the experience of coaching a city team for the first time. "Wala jud namo pakyasa ang city of Davao sa ilang pagsalig sa among representation ug among gihatag ang tanan para maka-gold (We did not fail the trust for us to represent Davao City. We gave our all to win the gold)," Diaz said as he also thanked Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) regional director Glenn Escandor and coach Ronel Leuterio for their endorsement that they represent the city to the Batang Pinoy Mindanao.
In the distaff side, the Daniel Colango-coached Davao City routed Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte, 94-77, to rule the girls basketball gold.
Davao City's boxing team, for its part, collected a total of one gold (Reymond Albupera), two silvers (Emmanuel Canubas and Glen Mark Villagracia) and four bronzes (Chad Andrey Fornes, Cyril Ivan Revilla, Rocky James Larios and Cyril Isaac Revilla) at the Provincial Capitol Grounds in Oroquieta City.
Alpubera proved too much for Cagayan de Oro City's John Peter Payla, 4-1, in the junior boys light flyweight (48kg) division.
Davao City also captured two golds in lawn tennis yesterday as Jude Abelo recovered from a first set loss to beat Oroquieta’s Nash Agustines, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3, in boys singles championship match while Dabawenya Jessica Mae Carcueva crushed teammate Theresa Claire Nacito, 6-2, 6-2, in girls singles final.
Davao del Norte (39-28-42) dropped to third while Zamboanga City (38-13-27) was fourth followed by Tagum City (28-29-23) fifth, Koronadal City (26-31-41) sixth, Cotabato Province (26-25-20) seventh, South Cotabato (25-35-32) eighth, Iligan City (20-27-25) ninth and Cagayan de Oro City (19-10-9) 10th among 77 delegations.