|
PUERTO
PRINCESA—For Maika de Oro, there was no period of
adjustment.
The
high-school freshman from Bacolod City was the first to
reset a Palarong Pambansa record here en route to
another Western Visayas victory in track and field
Tuesday at the Ramon V. Mitra Jr. Sports Complex.
De Oro
raised the record in girls’ secondary discus throw after
registering 32.62 meters and breaking the previous mark
by .17 meters established eight years ago.
The
13-year-old de Oro was playing in her first Palaro in
the secondary level, but it didn’t show in her
performance. After tacking a 30.08-meter throw in her
first attempt, de Oro, who produced a gold in the same
category in the elementary division last year, hit the
record-breaking mark on the second try.
Her feat
makes de Oro the sole owner of the Palaro discus-throw
records both in the elementary and secondary levels. As
a sixth-grader in the elementary level last year, she
shattered the event record that stood untouched since
1998.
As a
first-year high-school student here, de Oro blasted yet
another long-standing record, one that was set in 2000.
Emmanuel
Pacardo, de Oro’s coach, talked to reporters and excused
de Oro for being unable to meet the media.
“She
really needed to go back to the quarters to rest because
she was having stomach pains. Obviously, she didn’t have
to adjust too much to her situation to come up with this
victory,” Pacardo said.
De Oro’s
mark was so impressive she was far away from Ira Marie
Fernandez, the second-placer from Southern Tagalog, who
tallied 30.31 meters. Her gold medal was the first in
athletics coming from Negros Occidental but the fourth
overall from Western Visayas.
In
high-school boys’ triple jump, Ivan Jey Sulcado extended
Western Visayas’s run after clinching the gold.
Sulcado’s 14.2-meter attempt bested the tries by bets
from the Davao Region and Southern Tagalog. In
high-school girls’ triple jump, Irin Balura of Central
Visayas won the gold after clearing a distance of 11.78
meters. Bets from Davao and the National Capital Region
(NCR) rounded out the top three.
Swim
supremacy under way
IN
elementary-level swimming, Fahad Alkhaldi picked up two
gold medals and NCR’s projected supremacy inside the
pool got under way Tuesday.
Alkhaldi,
a 13-year-old incoming high-school freshman who stands
five feet and six inches, won the mints in 100-meter
backstroke and 200-meter freestyle, two events that took
place within 15 minutes.
Alkhaldi’s titles and Timothy Yap’s gold in the
secondary boys’ 400-meter freestyle meant the
Big City collared
three of the first five golds available in swimming.
NCR 5
yawning
IN
high-school basketball, defending champion NCR posted
its second-straight lopsided win, dismantling Southern
Tagalog, 79-58, while two Mindanao-based teams also went
2-0.
Northern
Mindanao scorched the net for 22 points in overtime to
outlast Central Luzon, 82-76, and keep its record
unblemished, while
Davao engineered a 28-17 run in the fourth quarter to break
away from a three-quarter deadlock and down Ilocos,
81-71.
Davao dominant
IN
volleyball, the Davao Region ran down the opposition in
the boys’ and girls’ divisions.
The
Davao girls beat ARMM Monday and Central Luzon Tuesday
without losing a set. The boys faced stiffer challenge,
however. They beat Central Luzon in straight sets Monday
but had to scrape past Southern Tagalog before winning,
25-18, 15-25, 25-23, and raising their record to 2-0.
Extraordinary in elementary gymnastics
IN
rhythmic gymnastics, Rizza Corpuz and Arielle Nichole
Orella led the way for the NCR’s romp through the
standings.
Corpus
and Orella finished 1-2 in the individual all-around
category and the Big City bets easily collared the gold
medal after tallying 141.5 points to emerge the event’s
champion. The Ilocos Region and Western Visayas placed
second and third, respectively. |
