STA. CRUZ, LAGUNA, Philippines — The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association bounced back from a medal-less Day 2 in style, hauling in five golds, one silver and four bronzes to take the temporary second place in the overall standing of the 57th Palarong Pambansa at the newly-refurbished Laguna Sports Complex here.
After the third day of action, CVIRAA now stands with seven gold, three silver and five bronze medals.
Powerhouse National Capital Region still leads the pack with 14 golds, six silvers and eight bronzes. Host Calabarzon occupied the third spot with a 6-7-6 gold-silver-bronze tall followed by Central Luzon with 4-1-3 and Western Visayas with a 5-3-7 medal count.
The Cebuanos showed that they are really experts in poomsae event of taekwondo competition, with Child Learning Foundation's Anne Sharmaine Albarraccin and Aidaine Krishia Laxa winning gilts in the individual A and B category, respectively.
On the other hand, Vincent Villa produced CVIRAA's first gold in archery. He topped the 30-meter event via tie-breaker, 10-9, against CAR's Quint Amongan after the two got tied at 331 points each. The bronze went to National Capital Region's Nathan Abregana.
The region’s badminton bets had a double victory in elementary team tie, while gymnast Randy Familiar from Lapu-Lapu City grabbed three bronzes through the vault, floor exercises and overall individual.
Over at the 50-meter pool of the sprawling 19-hectare sports complex here, Michael Ichiro Kong prevented a medal shutout for CVIRAA in the first day of the medal-rich swimming competition by snaring silver in the secondary boys 200-meter butterfly with a personal best time of two minutes and 15.87 seconds. The gold went to NCR's Maurice Illustre at 2:10.07.
CVIRAA's overall performance in secondary tennis somehow compensated for its setback in the elementary level during the early round of the team event.
In secondary basketball, CVIRAA, manned mostly by dribblers from Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, overcame a tension-filled match against Central Luzon, 64-59, to stay unbeaten in three starts.
In football, CVIRAA's secondary bets barged into the quarterfinal round after posting a 3-0 win against Zamboanga Peninsula, while their elementary comrades split their games, losing to Calabarzon in the morning but bounced back at the expense of MIMAROPA in the afternoon, 1-0. (FREEMAN)