WITH strong opposition from Laguna Province and Quezon City, reigning Batang Pinoy national finals champion Baguio City is making its final push to claim the overall title in the ongoing Luzon leg in Ilagan City, Isabela.
As of Friday, Baguio City is behind Laguna with a gold medal in the penultimate day of the weeklong sports event for athletes 15 years old and below.
Laguna is currently locked at first place with 28 golds, 30 silvers and 27 bronze medals while the Summer Capital is in close second with 27–31–48 while Quezon City is in third at with 24–17–10.
City sports coordinator Gaudencio Gonzales remains optimistic of Baguio’s chances in the Luzon leg with other sports event still on going.
“We’re very hopeful of the over-all title. Hopefully, athletics, chess, futsal, and volleyball can contribute in the medal standings,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales added medal rich events such as arnis, archery, and boxing is still on going.
Baguio City’s Hussein Lorana bagged another gold medal, this time in the athletics boys’ 5000m in the sports event hatched by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Rufo Aidan Raguine earlier helped propel Pangasinan to the boys’ 4x100-meter relay gold medal yesterday to emerge the first triple-gold medal winner in centerpiece athletics.
Raguine, 14, teamed up with Redz Jeronimo Banaag, Irish Vergel Cabanayan and Justine Angelo Munoz and clocked 46 seconds to make it a three-gold haul after he also reigned supreme in the long jump Wednesday and triple jump the next day.
And Raguine had to shrug off the left ankle sprain he sustained during his triple jump conquest.
“I had to skip the heats yesterday (Thursday) because of my left ankle sprain,” said Raguine in Filipino. “It felt a little better when I woke up this morning and I decided to give it a go. Good thing we qualified in the finals.”
Erica Marie Ruto of Calamba City, for her part, posted the fastest qualifying time in the 400m with a clocking of 1:01.82 and could end up joining Raguine in the triple-gold club and cap a golden sprint treble if she wins the event at press time.
Ruto, who studies at Don Bosco-Canlubang, zoomed to the 100m and 200m golds to become the fastest girl in this weeklong meet for in and out-of-school youth athletes aged 15 years old and below.
In chess, Michael Concio flirted with defeat before escaping with a 29-move victory of a Queen’s Pawn London System over Manuel Norberto Maglunog of Sta. Maria, Bulacan to top the boys’ 15-under standard event.
Concio’s triumph sealed Dasmarinas, Cavite’s four-gold sweep of the standard events as Gio Troy Ventura (12-under), Daren dela Cruz (12-under) and Jerlyn Mae San Diego (15-under) all ruled their respective divisions.
San Diego ended up tied at the helm with Pasig’s Josemier Jene Panol with six points apiece after the former split the point with Laguna’s Criswen Falamig and the latter trounced Zambales’ Heart Padilla.
But San Diego won via win-over-the-other rule after she beat Panol in the fifth round to book the gold.
Dasmarinas thus raised its chess golds to six after claiming two mints in rapid chess Monday courtesy of Ventura and Mark Jay Bacojo.
In girls’ basketball, Pangasinan turned back Pasig, 61-58, to pocket the gold at the Ilagan Convention Center.