DAPITAN CITY , Philippines — Central Visayas finished fourth place overall but still made an impression at the end of the 54th Palarong Pambansa yesterday here at the Jose P. Rizal Memorial State University (JRMSU) Sports Complex.
Department of Education (DepEd)-7 director Dr. Recaredo Borgonia said despite they were still nailed at fourth, he is satisfied with the region's performance as they are no longer far behind Region IV-A compared to last year's edition of the annual sports conclave.
“It’s okay that we finished only fourth. The important thing is that we are no longer too far from the third place, which means that the performance of our athletes have really improved. I congratulate all the athletes who excelled well this year and for the entire delegation for this huge progress,” said Borgonia.
For seven years in a row, Central Visayas is a consistent fourth-place finisher.
As usual, powerhouse National Capital Region (NCR) bagged the overall championship with 572.66 points. Region VI copped the second place honors with 479.5 points followed by Region IV-A with 429.5 points and Region VII with 329.
In Tarlac last summer, Region IV-A buried Central Visayas by almost 200 points.
Given the 'slight' improvement of the CV jocks, Borgonia is motivated to continue the training pool.
“We will assess the performance of our athletes this year. We will formulate an action program for them and we will have an early preparation just like what we did last year. It is really of great advantage,” Borgonia added.
DepEd-7 Physical Education and School Sports (PESS) assistant supervisor Dr. Danilo Villadolid shared Borgonia's insight.
“Our athletes had a very good performance since the points we earned this year increased. This is a good start for the region. We just need to keep up the good work and have a good and early preparation ahead of the Palaro next year, said Villadolid.
Completing the list of regions which made it to the top 10 were Region X with 172 points, Region XII (146.16), Region XI (141.25), Region III (141), Region IV-B (102.5) and Region IX (79.91).
Central Visayas ended its campaign by grabbing gold in the secondary boys football and elementary girls volleyball.
Central Visayas earlier hauled multiple golds in archery, gymnastics, table tennis, lawn tennis, boxing and arnis events.
Football
The 16-year-old Miguel Caindec made a graceful exit in the Palaro as he spearheaded the Don Bosco College-manned CV booters in dethroning Davao City in secondary boys football, 2-1, at the Barcelona National High School field.
“This is tears of joy. Mau gyud ni ako gipaningkamutan nga ma-champion sukad sa Cebu City Olympics dayon sa CVIRAA and karon sa Palaro. I thank the Lord for helping us to win the coveted title,” said Caindec, who wept into tears while holding his gold medal.
It was Caindec’s first Palaro gold in the secondary division. He got one gold and a silver during his elementary years. After a decade, DBC was back in the limelight after winning the crown.
“The team was determined to win. We were very excited because we had the feeling that we will be facing Davao in the finals.
Nindot gyud ang mga duwa sa mga bata, it was a job well done,” said Don Bosco coach Glenn Ramos.
It was Roger Nieves from Abellana National School who made the first goal for CV in the first half. Caindec later scored for a 2-0 advantage at halftime.
In the elementary class though, the CV booters from PAREF-Springdale just settled for silver after bowing to Northern Mindanao, 3-1.
Volleyball
After a sudden silver finish last year, the former three-time Palarong Pambansa champion Catmon Elementary School shot back to the limelight after overpowering Western Visayas in dominating straight sets, 25-13, 25-14.
“We’re so happy that we were able to get back the crown. The strong will and determination to win made us triumphant. The daily training and the exposures that my girls had also helped them in their great performance,” said coach Vilma Veloso.