Fabriga nails cliff diving title in Nasugbu

NASUGBU, Batangas , Philippines   â€“ Olympian Rexel Ryan Fabriga proved his mettle in the outdoors, conquering the elements and dominating the field in the second Club Punta Fuego and Rider Cliff Diving Invitational Challenge Saturday at Punta del Sol Peninsula here.

Taking off on 6-meter and 12-meter platforms on a cliff that leads to a gravity-defying freefall and into rough waters, Fabriga executed his dives with grace and flexibility to impress the judges, who awarded the Beijing Games veteran the top plum in the seniors men’s division with 261.60 points.

Fabriga beat fellow Olympian Zardo Domenios, who tallied a far 218.05 points, his title-retention bid hurt by a violation in his first dive. Deorelar Francisco took the bronze with 210.25 points in this world-class luxury seaside residential community.

“Hindi ko actually tinitignan yung scoring para hindi masyado kabahan kaya nagulat din ako nung sinabi nila na ako yung nanalo (I wasn’t looking at the scores so as not to feel the pressure. That’s why I was surprised when they told me I won),” said the 27-year-old Zamboanguenno.

It was a major improvement from the third-place finish that Fabriga had last year, when Club Punta Fuego staged the first cliff diving event in Asia.

“Simpleng dive lang ginawa ko (I did simple dives),” said Fabriga, who performed 105 (forward 2-1/2 somersault), 205B (back 2-1/2 somersault pike), 105C (forward 2-1/2 Somersault C position) and 5233 (back 1 1/2 somersault 1 1/2 twist).

Domenios started off on the wrong foot. He failed to control his hand and raised it while doing a 206C (back 3-1/2 somersault tuck position), forcing master referee Arthur Joseph Vito Cruz to rule wrong entry, which limited the particular dive’s score to a maximum of 4.5 points.

“Binuhos ko na sa mga sumunod na dive ang lahat para makahabol. Pag pumalpak kasi, wala na akong habol (I gave it my all in the next dives so I could catch up),” said the Sydney Olympian.

Hazel Bernadette Abiera ruled the distaff side with 184.45 over her lone rival, Rebecca Pahoyo (165.60).

“Hindi ko expected kasi yung recent tournaments medyo hindi maayos ang performance ko (I didn’t expect this considering my performances in recent tournaments were not that good),” said the 17-year-old lass from Manila, who played through an injured finger she suffered from previous competitions.

Also emerging victorious were Bryan Antonio, who topped the juniors’ boys dive with 185.25 points, Riza Jane Domenios, who won the juniors girls (103.40), Gerald Ocmer, who triumphed in the novice boys (112.25), and Catherine Joyce Montaos, who dominated novice girls (134.35).