Dadal churns way to Palaro history

SOCSKSARGEN - History buff Rizzie Dadal continued to rewrite the history of the Palaro ng Bayan yesterday in her own personal way, notching a pacesetting fifth gold medal to become the biggest individual winner on a day the clouds cleared and brought life and sunshine back to this city by the sea.

Dadal, who installed herself the backstroke queen by winning the 50m, 100m and 200m events earlier, proved she was the fastest girl in her age bracket by winning the 50-meter freestyle in 32.77 seconds.

Her fourth gold the other day came from the medley relay.

"I am very, very happy but I cannot rest yet," said Dadal, whose next "love" after swimming is history, her favorite subject as a High School freshman at St. Benilde in Mansilangan, Negros Occidental.

Dadal, 13, basically a backstroker, had slim chance to win the gold in the freestyle, but her coach, former national swimmer Tessie Ongkiko, 46, said her big, fighting heart emboldened by previous wins gave her the competitive spirit to rule the event.

Dadal will try to make it six-of-six when she competes today in the 200 individual medley, an event she is also competing in for the first time.

"I can finish the race but I cannot comment on the outcome," said Dadal.

Also high up on the honor roll and the runaway winners of the Top Athlete Award worth P50,000 from President Joseph Estrada were gymnasts Jasmine Moreno of Muntinlupa City and Jesusa Angelica Paguio, of Pilar, Bataan.

Moreno won the individual all around, hoop, ball and ribbon events for Highly-Urbanized Cities (HUC)/Independent Component Cities, accounting for four of eight golds by Muntinlupa in the sport.

Noel Anthony Quinto joined the circle of triple gold medalists by winning the individual all around, floor exercise and the pummel horse. The other Muntinlupa gold medalist was Alfie Bollena in the vault (8.00).

Moreno matched the four-gold medal sweep earlier of Paguio in the League of Municipalities competition.

In swimming, Marissa Majayjay of Camarines Sur won the 200m butterfly in 3:99.39 for her third gold.

Honey Joy Ortales of Quezon City and Charmie Cabale of Iloilo, both competing in the 13-15 age group, completed a sprint double by winning yesterday's 200m dash. Ortales clocked 26.6 and Cabale 26.6.

They joined earlier double gold medalists Arniel Ferrera of Negros Occidental (discus throw and shotput, 16-18 years), and swimmers Sharon Maque of Negros Occidental (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 13-14) and Sadir Nasser of Cagayan (100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke, 15-18).

Big gains in athletics and swimming sent Negros Occidental up the leaderboard with 18 gold medals, 17 silvers and 11 bronzes, not counting the late results yesterday. Iloilo was seven gold medals behind with 11-10-7, while Camarines Sur, which is staging the 2001 Palaro ng Bayan, had 9-5-3.

In city competition, Cebu had 17-21-17, Bacolod 17-13-8, Davao 10-8-7, Iligan 10-7-6, and Zamboanga 10-6-4.

In taekwondo, Quezon City romped off with two golds - from Cennon Edrada (finweight) and Maria dela Carmen Galvez (lightheavyweight). -