BAGUIO CITY -- Two from the 10-man Oro boxing team finished with a gold without sweating it out after having no opponents in their respective weight categories since the start of the 2017-2018 Batang Pinoy National Championships boxing competition here.
Both Althea Porres and Cyril Payla were declared gold medalists after receiving confirmation from technical officials on Thursday, September 20.
With this, Team CDO now has seven gold, five silver and eight bronze medals in the overall tally as of 10 a.m. Friday.
The 16-year-old Porres was supposed to see action in the female junior 54 kgs, while the 13-year-old Cyril Payla was set to fight in the sch boys 36 kgs.
Team CDO boxing head coach Elmer Pamisa clarified matters as early Monday to avoid confusion of the same thing they experienced when they participated in the latest edition of the Philippine National Games (PNG) in Cebu City.
In the PNG Cebu, a female boxer had no opponent in her division but was not awarded a gold as boxing officials explained that there must be at least four participants per division to qualify as medal contest.
But, the BP is different as all participants underwent qualification games in their respective regional legs early this year.
“Dili mahimo nga wala kay niagi man mi og qualifying games. Busa, giunhan dayon namo og pangutana,” said Pamisa.
Oro’s six remaining boxers were still vying for gold as of press time after breezing through the semifinal round.
Ailene Kaye Caranagan and Cyril’s brother Peter John Payla were the latest to advance in the finals on Thursday night.
The 5-foot-6 Carangan, a grade 11 student of Macasandig National High School, conquered Escel Betonio of Baguio City via referee stop decision in 1:49 minutes in just the first round of their jr. girls 50 kgs semifinal bout.
The 16-year-old Payla survived against Reynold Salva via majority decision in their jr. boys 48 kgs semifinal.
Dave Bryan Caspe bowed down to John Dave Villaverde of South Cotabato in their jr. boys bantamweight semifinal match to settle for a bronze.
Also in the finals were Angelo Lofranco (sch boys 38 kgs), Eljay Pamisa (sch boys 40 kgs), Jhasli John Illudar (sch boys 42 kgs) and Rhein John Gidor (sch boys 44 kgs).
Medal-wise, Joshua Jan Odvina was the lone casualty of the Oro boxing team after his defeat in the preliminary round.
Meanwhile, the badminton duo of Tia Kirsten Bualat and Maxene Renee Olango delivered Cagayan de Oro’s fifth silver medal in the BP Games’ final day of action.
Bualat and Olango missed the gold after narrowly losing to the pair of Jochelle Alvarez and Maria Ariana Belen of Laguna Province in two sets in the 13-15 years old girls doubles badminton final.
The Oro shuttlers faltered in the first set with a 18-21 debacle and needed to bounce back for an equalizer in the following set.
They blended well in the second set and managed to keep a 2-point distance with a 19-17 lead.
The 15-year-old Bualat, a pride of Barangay Carmen and a grade 10 student of Corpus Christi School, connected five smashes to further pad the lead to three.
A pride of Barangay Gusa, Olango—now a grade 10 student of Xavier University High School--provided middle defense and drop shots.
But return errors blew their chances to level the match as Laguna made a comeback to force a 19-all deadlock.
Bualat and Olango were just a point away to close out the game when they suffered a heart-breaking collapse.
Alvarez and Belen went on winning the set after blanking them, 3-0 to capture the gold in thrilling fashion.
On their way to the final, Bualat and Olango bested Dulce Felise Agcaoili and Wishes Mae Gacho, 21-13, 22-20 in the semifinals.