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PUERTO PRINCESA
CITY—Heat
was an overused word the last time the Palarong Pambansa
was played. Now, the only thing hot to start this year’s
edition was
Western Visayas’s play on the field.
Two
javelin throwers—a high-school freshman and a
senior—bagged the gold medals out of three events
available in secondary-level action in the Palaro Monday
at the Ramon V. Mitra Jr. Sports Complex.
Last
year’s Palaro, which was held in Koronadal City, was
marred by two deaths and hundreds of cases of heat
stroke caused by intolerably high temperatures, almost
overshadowing the competition proper.
PARTICIPANTSin the girls’
secondary hurdles make a perfect silhouette as
competitions in the 2008 Palarong Pambansa heat up after
Sunday’s colorful opening ceremonies. -- RHOY
COBILLA
As the
hosting shifted to one of the premier summer
destinations in the country, the provincial capital of
Palawan, more popularly known as the City of Forests and
dubbed more recently as the Sports Tourism Capital of
the Philippines, may be was just what the doctors
ordered.
Except
for relatively harmless reports on problems on equipment
and billeting issues that came out during the opening
Sunday, the Palaro began hostilities the way the city’s
summer breeze was falling on people’s skins—soft and
easy.
Making
the early splash were two throwers from
Western Visayas—Ralph
Gesulgon and Sharmaine Bucaling.
The duo,
who both hail from
Iloilo,
were overpowering in taking the titles in javelin.
Gesulgon, a high-school freshman, threw a distance of
49.59 meters to take the boys’ gold. The runner-up from
Cagayan Valley, John Paul Chinyuna, wasn’t even close,
tallying 48.22 meters.
“I
really liked our chances coming into this tournament.
This is my first time competing at this level [in
secondary]. My coach and I worked hard, and I’m very
happy with the result,” Gesulgon, 15, and the sixth of
eight siblings, said.
Bucaling,
a high-school senior, celebrated her last Palaro with
aplomb, running away with a 33.95-meter hurl, or 1.86
meters ahead of second-placer Richelda Pepito from the
hometown Mimaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan)
Region. It was the 18-year-old Bucaling’s second mint in
the Palaro following the same title she won in 2006 in
Naga.
The
third gold of the day was courtesy of long-jumper
Michael Calayo. The Central Luzon bet notched 6.98 in
the boys’ event.
The
heats in the different events in track and field went
underway and the on-site medical team was more relaxed
as the weather was far less brutal on this side of the
archipelago at this time of the year.
Heat-stroke cases were pegged at zero as of press time,
with temperatures reaching as high as 32 degrees, thanks
to summer clouds.
NCR
having a ‘ball’
THE
National Capital Region (NCR), meanwhile, gave the
tournament a glimpse of its dominance in ball games.
In
basketball, NCR, the overall defending champion, began
its title-retention bid by blowing past Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 91-39. NCR brought
back the core of its championship team composed of
incoming college freshmen Arvie Bringas, Ryan Buenafe
and juniors champion San Sebastian.
The
Staglets-backed NCR won the title last year after
Zamboanga took the Big-City team to the limit in the
final.
In boys’
volleyball, NCR found
Western Visayas a tough nut to crack but won, 25-23, 25-22,
nonetheless.
In
girls’ softball, NCR let loose a barrage of runs in the
fifth inning to coast past Cagayan Valley, 13-2. NCR
blasted the Northerners in a seven-run fifth inning to
tally the event’s first victory.
In boys’
baseball, Bicol survived a fifth-inning comeback attempt
by Cordillera and won, 6-5. Cordillera scored all its
five runs in the fifth, but was two short of completing
the turnaround. ARMM swamped Southern Tagalog, 10-0, in
three innings.
In boys’
football,
Cagayan Valley
proved too much for Eastern Visayas, winning 7-0.
‘Be like
Puerto’
THIS
summer-destination city has set the benchmark for
hosting huge sports events. What better way for others
who want to measure up to that standard than to take on
Puerto Princesa’s lead.
The
officials of one of the provinces bidding for future
hosting duties of the Palaro was in town to check on the
country’s biggest multisport event. And Anthony del
Rosario wants nothing but to follow in the current
host’s footsteps.
“Hopefully, we can catch up,” said the current
provincial sports coordinator of Davao del Norte,
referring to the norms of holding sports events being
set here.
Del
Rosario, Davao del Norte’s former vice governor, has
made known to the Department of Education his province’s
intention of hosting the 2010 Palaro. If that passes, it
will be the first time Region XI, or the Davao Region,
will host the Palaro.
Davao
del Norte boasts arguably of being the southernmost hub
of sports, previously backing a club in the Metropolitan
Basketball Association, once hosting a beach-volleyball
event and producing a few top-class boxers.
Del
Rosario said he wants to take the province’s involvement
in sports to another level.
“We were
already thinking of making Davao del Norte the sports
capital of the Philippines,” del Rosario said. “But when
we flew in [Puerto Princesa’s] airport, we saw these
streamers around the city and dito na pala [ang
sports capital].”
“Maybe
city-wise, [Puerto Princesa] is. But we’ll be the sports
center as a province para wala nang conflict,”
del Rosario joked.
Next
year’s hosting is still up for grabs among Capiz,
Dumaguete and Tacloban. The country’s three island
groups—Luzon, the Visayas and
Mindanao—alternately host the Palaro.
By the
numbers
AT least
6,392 athletes are participating in this year’s Palaro—2,924
in the elementary and 3,468 in the secondary.
Education Secretary Lapus said the department has made
safeguards for this year’s Palaro. These are insurance
for athletes, coaches and delegation officials;
availability of medical personnel; coordination with
local agencies (health and police); and site security.
Lapus
said the mentally challenged are also joining the track
events, while the visually impaired are competing in
shot put and goal balls.
He also
stressed the digital age has come to the Palaro—electronic
touch pads for swimming events, called dolphin timers,
an electronic touch-scoring system in the contact sports
and especially designed UV light detectors to check the
veracity of birth certificates issued by the National
Statistics Office to athletes, among others. (With
Claudette Mocon) |
