ARCHERY coach John Hongitan hopes to see more archers, particularly the elementary, for Baguio and the region during the annual Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic (Caraa) meet.
Hongitan said the inclusion of archery in the elementary level would pave way for a deeper training pool for the region in national competition and at the same time would help develop the sports in the grass roots level.
“Sana maisali ang elementary sa Caraa para habang bata pa lang sila, nadedevelop na sa archery,” added Hongitan.
Hongitan said archery remains to be among the sport were Cordilleran excel and with the inclusion of elementary in the regional meet, this will help the region improve its grass roots training for archery.
"This will serve as a feeder program for the high school squad," added Hongitan.
During the recently concluded Caraa meet in Abra last week, Baguio City sweep all the 16 gold medals in archery with Allen Drei Raquipo and Charmaine Angela Villamor, taking home eight and seven gold medals each to be named as the most bemedalled athletes in the secondary level for the Summer Capital.
Villamor was also the most bemedalled for the Cordillera region during the 2017 edition of the Palarong Pambansa held in Antique with four gold medals including one silver and a bronze.
In 2015, Loren Chloe Balaoing also won five gold medals during the national sports competition held in Tagum City.
Just last month, Balaoing led University of Baguio Archery Club in winning two of the three gold medals during the 2018 Philippine Archery Cup Leg-1 in Koronadal City, South Cotabato.
The 19–year-old former Palarong Pambansa standout took the gold medals in both junior recurve women, even as her teammates settled for the bronze medals as UB finished with a 3-1-2 bronze, silver, bronze medals in the Asian 3 Qualifier.
The event attracted teams the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, Baguio, La Union, Cebu, Dumaguete, Leyte and Ormoc.
Baguio City has also produced one of the country’s best archer, Kareel Hongitan who won a bronze medal in last year’s Southeast Asian Games. (Roderick Osis)