MANILA, Philippines - Teener Bianca Gotuaco continued to make her mark abroad as she swept the gold medals in the US Ranking tournament in Canton, Massachusetts and she scooped up one more in the tough US Nationals in Hamilton, Ohio recently.
Competing in the recurve cadet women’s division under the California banner, Gotuaco, a Palarong Pambansa champion, flashed fine form in the Nor Easter Tournament, topping both the Ranking Round and the Olympic Round of the meet, one of the five major US Ranking tournaments.
Gotuaco, 14, shot 619 after 72 arrows to beat Washington’s Elizabeth Caughell (609) and fellow Californian Jehnna Ahn (604) for the Ranking Gold.
She maintained her steady shooting in the Olympic Round, where she beat Lianne Yun of Connecticut, 6-0, and Allysa Nicole Posecion of Texas, 7-3, to complete a two-gold romp.
Gotuaco, one of the Batang Pinoy scholars set for a summer sports scholarship in London from July 28-Aug. 12, sustained her top form in the Easton JOAD Nationals as she topped the Ranking Round with 1265 and just fell short of another medal in the Olympic Round.
She started off with a 6-0 victory over Odelia Wong of Canada but bowed to semifinal rival Jennyu Han of Arizona, 0-6, bomb out of the gold medal showdown. Gotuaco later dropped a 1-7 decision to Madison Ech of Washington, to settle for fourth.