SAN JOSE DE, ANTIQUE, Philippines — After struggling for the past two days, Central Visayas finally shot into the limelight with five gold, two silver and six bronze medals from athletic, table tennis and archery after three full days of action in the 60th Palarong Pambansa mainly at the Binarayan Sports Complex here yesterday.
The golden harvest, however, did not bring any good as Region 7 still dropped from third to sixth place in the overall standings with eight golds, six silvers and 13 bronzes. Twelve-time champions National Capital Region remains in full control with a seemingly unassailable 50-27-20 gold-silver-bronze tally.
Bohol’s Riza Valiente recharged her comrades confidence by winning the region’s first gold in the tough athletics competition.
Valiente is on his fifth Palaro and her second straight to win the secondary girls 400m hurdles with a time of one minute and 3.10 seconds.
Winning the gold last year in Legazpi, Albay was a motivation for the 16-year-old Valiente to do her best, not to mention the pressure of living up to expectations especially after CV suffered a two-day gold medal blackout.
Valiente, the eldest in a brood of three, eyes for another gold in the 400m in the hope of inspiring other young tracksters especially her fellow Bol-anon.
“Maayo tag ma-inspire pud sila nako,” said Valiente.
A few moments after Valiente’s feat, Marvin Rafols courageously leapt his way to a silver-medal finish in secondary boys triple jump despite being hobbled by a hamstring injury he sustained while training for the relay event.
Rafols was actually leading the battle, but lost to Cagayan Valley’s in the last jump, with Rafols posting 14.50m as against the latter’s 14.57m best.
While the fighting spirit of Rafols is admirable, Samantha Gem Limos, Palaro’s fastest female runner last year in the secondary level, could only get a bronze this time with a 12.55-second clocking. The gold went to Eastern Visayas’ Bianca Jane Combate in 12.38 seconds.
In table tennis, CV claimed two golds behind the efforts of University of Cebu’s Lindy Marie Darlo and Leigh Erica Villanueva in the secondary girls doubles and Eric Christopher Arbasto in the elementary boys doubles.
Aside from the gold, Darlo and Villanueva alongside Rikki Mae Frosia and Kathlyn Gabisay also handed a bronze in the team event.
CV got its fourth gold in badminton through Joel Barriga, Anthony Abellana, Dean Harvey Tungul and Carl Bejasa, who topped the team competition.
Lloyd Apawan caught part of the spotlight after delivering CV’s first gold in archery via the 60-meter event.
In taekwondo, the region’s top bets could only get a silver courtesy of Charles Labiste. (FREEMAN)