Young tankers shine

BACOLOD CITY -- The Philippines' young stars from Australia's Pan-Pacific Games began their multiple-gold medal quest with record-breaking feats as the once-canceled, twice-postponed Palarong Pambansa got off to a low-profile start--minus the fireworks and the presence of its main guest of honor, President Joseph Estrada--yesterday at the Panaad Sports Complex.

Ronald Guiriba, winner of the 50m butterfly in this month's games in Australia, emerged as the first gold medal winner of the Palaro as he won the 200m freestyle for 12-and-under boys in two minutes, 11.76 seconds, breaking his own mark of 2:12.44 in the Pan-Pacific Games last month.

Silay City's Kerschtine Velez, also a campaigner in the Pan-Pacific meet, captured the gold in the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:19.63,improving the mark of 2:22.42 by Mischelle Nisce in the 1998 Centennial Palaro.

The twin feats, an indication of the field's strength in the competitions, set up the two promising tankers for at least four more gold medals in the individual events of the medal-rich sport, which ran the only final events on the first day of the eight-day competitions.

Swimming's other gold medal winners were Zaldi Orong of Bicol in the 13-and-above boys 400m freestyle (4:23.27), Nisce in the 13-above girls 400m freestyle (4:58.88), Katrina Recio of Southern Tagalog in the girls 12-U 100m backstroke (1:16.03), Nikko Cao Hok of Central Mindanao in the boys 13-over 100m backstroke (1:06.49) and Lourdes Diones of Central Visayas in the 13-over girls 100m back (1:12.09).

Ronald Papa, a seventh grader at the Ateneo and younger brother of retired former Southeast Asian Games backstroke champion Ryan Papa, also launched a promising swimming career, capturing the 100m backstroke in 1:10.37.

Despite the absence of the President, the 2000 Palarong Pambansa started yesterday minus the traditional opening ceremonies, although some of the games on the original schedule had to be postponed until tomorrow when President Estrada is expected to arrive for the opening rites.

Negros Occidental Governor Rafael Coscolluela "opened" the games in an informal gathering where he welcomed delegations from the 16 regions and national media which have been here since Saturday.

He told the guests that additional measures had been undertaken by the province of Negros Occidental and city of Bacolod to ensure the smooth running of the games, improving on some of the shortcomings of the 1998 version.

The PNP regional command has widened its intelligence operations and set up medical evacuation centers in anticipation of an untoward incident although he ruled out the possibility of attacks emanating from the Mindanao conflict.

"We are on a heightened alert status. We are adopting a better-safe-than-sorry attitude," said PNP provincial superintendent Gen. Geary Barias.

PALARO NOTES: The PSC, hoping to give the President a "high-profile reception," has assembled all presidents of the various national sports associations, giving them free return trip tickets and three nights stay here for a series of "fellowship nights" ... Observers said it is also aimed to tell the President, already besieged by negative reports on the PSC, that all's well between the agency and the NSAs... For the first time, the PSC and the DECS are co-staging the Palaro, which used to be an all-DECS affair since its inception in 1974. The PSC will run the show starting next year... Negros Occidental and Bacolod City are sponsoring national and international events, one of them the upcoming World Volleyball Grand Prix, as part of their sports tourism program, a major component of their economic development scheme.