Calapatan cops ASEAN gymnastics gold

Danica Calapatan topped the rope event of rhythmic gymnastics to finally bag a gold medal after two bronze medal-finishes at the close of the 12th Asean Schools Gymnastics Championships at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium yesterday.

The 13-year-old Calapatan tallied 13.525 points to lord it over Thai Chariya Srisamat and Malaysian Wan Siti Haniza and give the Philippines its third gold medal. Srisamat and Haniza finished with identical 12.450 points.

The victory, however, failed to improve the host team’s placing as it finished fourth in a field of five with a 3-4-8 (gold-silver-bronze) medal haul, barely ahead of fifth placer Singapore with 3-2-5 output.

Thailand emerged the overall champion by harvesting a total of six gold medals that went with its seven silver and four bronze medals while Malaysia wound up second with a 5-5-3 harvest after starting last after two days of competition.

Indonesia finished third with a 4-2-2 mark.

"It’s not bad, it showed that we’re getting there," said RP team coach and tournament director Sonny Ty. "Three gold medals should be enough to keep us from working hard and continue trying our best."

Paraso, who copped two bronze medals in rope and clubs in the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games, captured two more bronze medals, one in ball and the other in ribbon to make it a four-bronze medal haul.

The first year high school student at Liceo de Picholo Santo in Muntinlupa City salvaged a bronze in the individual all-around of artistic gymnastics and was part of the team that took the bronze in the team events.

RP’s first two golden performances came in the artistic gymnastics event courtesy of Kris Matthew Lombridas in pommel horse and Patricia Paraso in floor exercise.

The three-gold finish was way below the six-gold collection in the 1998 edition held in Singapore by a team headed by SEAG veterans Roel Ramirez and Brydon Sy.