THE Year 2017 saw local sports in a roller coaster ride with big names falling and new one emerging on top of their game.
As the year comes to an end, your SunStar Baguio takes a look at the sweet victories and bitter loss in the field of sports for the Cordillera region.
Sweet Victories
Stephen Loman emerged as the latest toast for Cordillera after winning the inaugural world bantamweight title in Brave Combat Federation in November with a first round knockout win.
The University of the Cordilleras student did it with passion after knocking out Gurdarshan Mangat in the 2:08 mark of the opening round in front of throngs of Filipino crowd at the Khalifa Sports City in Bahrain.
Loman engaged his Indian national in a striking battle with Mangat trying to subdue the Igorot warrior but to no avail. The end came when Loman delivered a left hook then unleashed his ground and pound after Mangat fell to the mat.
Just a few weeks ago, Cordilleran wushu pride Divine Wally of Baguio and Hergie Bacyadan of Tanudan, Kalinga won a gold and silver during the 1st Sanda Asian Cup in Foshan in China.
Wally won in the 48-kilogram while Bacyadan won silver in the 65-kilogram categories.
Wally credited her win to her tireless coaching staff and to former world wushu champion Benjie Rivera of Kibungan, Benguet, who was in Manila to train members of Team Philippines.
Tony Candellaria, founder of wushu in Northern Luzon, also joined the coaching staff during the tournament in China.
Last October, Bacyadan and Wally won silver and a bronze in the 14th World Wushu Championships in Kazan City, Russia.
Bacyadan won over Ilaria Cipolla of Italy via technical victory in the quarterfinals. She also defeated Danielle Newson of the U.S.A in the semifinals by gap point.
Wally, the only female member of the national wushu team to win gold in World Wushu Championship, outpointed Albina Mambetova of Kyrgyzstan in the quarterfinals after an opening-round bye.
In April earlier this year, athletes from the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association made their presence felt as it climbed to sixth over-all in the medal standings at the close of the 2017 Palarong Pambansa in Antique.
The region closed out its campaign in the weeklong competition backed by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Philippine Sports Commission with 26 gold medals, 21 silver and 21 bronze medals for an improved sixth place from a dismal ninth place finish in last year’s edition.
The 26 gold medal output, the highest for the region in three years, failed to surpass its fourth place finish in 2015 and fifth place in 2014 where it only had 24 gold medal output.
Taekwondo accounted the most medal haul with 9-10-6 while archery had 4-2-3. In chess, Cordillera also bagged four gold medals courtesy of Samantha Glo Revita and Bea Mendoza. Revita took the gold in the individual standard category while Mendoza took home the gold in the blitz contest. The duo also took home the gold medal in the team standard and blitz division.
Wushu, meanwhile, accounted for three gold medals including two silver and three bronze while athletics, thanks to Jeremiah Hipol, who took home the gold in the 400-meter dash, 800-meter run, and 1,500 meter run contributed three gold medals and one silver.
Arnis had 2-2-5 with wrestling adding 1-3-2.
Charmaine Angela Villamor’s record-breaking performance in archery may name her as the best performing athlete for the region with four gold medals including one silver and one bronze.
Kareel Meer Hongitan continue to stamp her name in archery, brining in medals after medals not only for Baguio but also for the country after earning four gold medals in the 6th Southeast Asian Archery Championships in Yangon, Myanmar from January 19-24.
The 19-year-old lass led the 13-man Philippine Archery Team, which earned the overall spot for the event, after putting in tow six gold, four silver, and two bronze medals. The University of Baguio recurve specialist displayed mastery over seven other competing nations after ruling the women’s qualification, the Olympic round, and the Mixed team event with Flor Matan, apart from the women’s team event with PH Team neophytes Mary Queen Ybanez and Nicole Tagle.
Then in August, Hongitan joined forces with Maryqueen Ybanez and Nicole Tagle to clinch a bronze in the women’s recurve category in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Football maybe as its infancy stage when it comes to popularity in the Cordilleras but eight high school students prove they can be at par with any other top junior booters in the country when they saw action in the 2017 Malaysian Borneo Football Cup.
Led by midfielder Aeron Christian Tenollar who recently earned a trip to FC Bayern Munich in Germany for the Allianz Junior Football Camp, he was joined by defender Shran Dyrick Vicente, striker Ivann Angelo Silva, defender Travis Ekid and striker Aaron Wallen. Also joining the five are Under 13 players Miguel Rebultan (midfielder), Harold Rillera (goalkeeper) and Juie Peralta (winger).
The eight saw action in September and played under Dreaming United FC.
The 2017 Malaysian Borneo Football Cup will be the 10th anniversary for the tournament which started as an idea and has grown into an International Youth Tournament with teams from Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, India, China, and Malaysia entering the tournament.
Each year, the tournament offers high profile football personalities who fly into Kota Kinabalu to observe the tournament and impart their knowledge and advice.
Castrol - Yokohama champion race car driver Iñigo Anton continued his winning streak this year after ruling the 11th leg of the National Slalom Series at the Tarlac Circuit Hill track to clinch his 10th overall win in the Novice division.
The win also inched Anton closer to the overall title in the front wheel drive division by taking his fifth win against the seasoned veterans.
MMA veterans Kevin Belingon and Honorio Banario remains a force to reckon with as they rack up victories after victories in Asia’s largest MMA promotions, One Championship this year.
Belingon racked up three impressive victories this year to make his case for another title rematch with bantamweight world champion Bibiano Fernandes.
The 30-year-old Ifugao native opened his campaign in April with a first round knockout of Toni Tauro, then followed it up with another first round knockout of Reece McLaren in August before closing out the year with a unanimous decision win over Kevin Chung in November.
Banario, who was the inaugural featherweight world champion also pushed himself for a possible shot at the title after a scintillating second round knockout of Jaroslav Jartim to extend his winning streak to four after strings of losses from 2014 to 2015.
In the collegiate front, University of the Cordilleras Jaguars returned as champion in season 31 after edging Baguio College of Technology in grueling three games to claim their fifth over-all in men’s basketball of the Baguio–Benguet Educational Athletic League.
The University of Baguio Lady Cardinals meanwhile remains the queens of local volleyball winning their third straight championship by defeating rival UC Lady Jaguars.
The victory however was not enough to catapult UB to the top of the over-all standings at the close of BBEAL’s season 30 with UC lording the competition with 727 points.
UB slid to number two with 663 points as Saint Louis University wound up at number three after finishing the season with 559 points.
Luigi Paolo Wong became an overnight sensation when he came out firing back to back 40 points to tow Manila Southwoods to the top of the 68th Fil-Am Golf Invitational Tournament this December.
Wong came home to his home course as he carded a four under 40 to lead Southwoods to a first day total of 146 and 40 point output in the second day of the competition that widen the gap against their rival Forest Hills.
The La Trinidad, Benguet pride played in the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia SouthEast Asian Game.
rBitter loss
In April this year, Eduard Folayang successfully defended his One lightweight world championship in front of cheering Filipino fight fans at the Mall of Asia Arena against Ev Ting. Folayang emerged victorious as he crafted an almost perfect game plan that stymied Ting’s dream of snatching the world title.
However, in November, Folayang would lose the title.
Martin Nguyen wrote his name in history books as the first man to hold two world titles simultaneously in ONE Championship by knocking out Folayang. After plastering each other with hard strikes in the first round, both men picked up where they left off in the second stanza, when Folayang and Nguyen continued to trade heavy blows at the center of the cage.
When Folayang launched his patented spinning backfist, Nguyen saw an opportunity to turn the lights off on his Filipino foe by uncorking explosive signature right hand. With his remarkable conquest of Folayang, Nguyen now has both the ONE featherweight and lightweight world championship titles in his possession.
After having high hopes, Baguio and Benguet’s dream of hosting the “Coolest Palaro” in 2018 got dashed after the Palaro Board chose Vigan City during the final presentation in September.
Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan, Benguet Governor Crescencio Pacalso, La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda, and DepEd-Cordillera regional director May Eclar presented the region’s bid to host the largest gathering of student athletes from all over the country.
Following more than 15 minutes of presentation, Vigan City got the nod of the Palaro board as it hosts the national sports competition anew since 1953 and 1973.
“Region I (Vigan City) wins the bid to host the 2018 Palarong Pambansa. We did our best. We presented what we could offer... unfortunately, ‘The Coolest Palaro’ will not happen,” said Ryan Dale Mangusan of the Baguio City Mayor’s office.
Part of the presentation includes traffic, security, playing venues, and billeting. The Palaro Selection board is chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Education and co-chaired by the Chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) with the education Undersecretaries and regional directors as members.
Danny Kingad was also unfortunate in his title quest this year after falling to Adriano Moraes in One Championship.
Moraes remained the undisputed king of ONE Championship’s flyweight bracket, denying Kingad’s bid to become a world champion by submitting the Filipino talent with a rear-naked choke in the first round.
Moraes put on a masterful performance, pacifying Kingad’s striking advantage in the early going as the Brazilian grappling expert utilized his high-level ground game.
On the mat, Moraes executed a forceful transition into a rear-naked choke that left Kingad no choice but to submit in the final seconds of the round to retain his title.