Davao overall champ, eyes big finish in Palaro

MANILA, Philippines — Davao City has shown its readiness to compete against Big City bet National Capital Region and powerhouse teams Calabarzon and Western Visayas after dominating the Mindanao Leg of the 2019 Philippine National Youth Games-Batang Pinoy in Tagum, Davao del Norte.

The Davaoeños raked in a total of 56 gold, 39 silver and 58 bronze medals anchored on their 17-gold harvest in the pool event that showed their readiness to battle NCR, Calabarzon and Western Visayas in the Palarong Pambansa that the former will host late April.

While the Batang Pinoy is a separate tournament from the Palaro, most of the athletes that competed here are also scheduled to participate in the latter, which is open to elementary and high school athletes.

Liaa Margarette Amoguis spearheaded the gold medal-winning spree by Davao as it raked in five gold medals from the girls’ 12-under 200m individual medley, 100m and 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay.

Juliana Marie Villanueva also made her presence felt in the pool as she splashed her way to golds in the 15-under 400m and 800m free and 400m individual medley.