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PUERTO PRINCESA
CITY—Those
second-generation wonders apparently aren’t through yet.
Isidro
del Prado Jr. and Jose Renato Unso have been a spectacle
to kids their age in the Palarong Pambansa, but the
prodigious duo must have equally left the older fans
awed, reminding them of a time that saw del Prado and
Unso Seniors as the lords of the track ring.
After
Thursday’s competitions at the Ramon V. Mitra Jr. Sports
Complex, del Prado and Unso proved once more the seeds
are just as sweet as their fruits.
Del
Prado won his second Palaro gold after his 49.7-second
finish topped the secondary boys’ 400 meters. Unso also
doubled up, breasting the tape in 15.7 seconds to win
the 110-meter hurdles.
Del
Prado was the 800-meter champion Wednesday, while Unso
the 5,000-meter king.
Del
Prado and Unso, apparently close friends who are eyeing
going to college together at De La Salle on Taft or at
the University of the Philippines, left no doubt have
all the ingredients of a perfect winning recipe—a
spoonful of competitive drive, a sprinkle of love of the
game and 100-percent pure, unadulterated championship
blood fueling their fleet feet.
“We’re
just enjoying this moment,” Unso said. “I think being
able to perform well gives us a chance to honor what our
fathers have accomplished before us. At least, we’re not
embarrassing them.”
“This
experience has been unbelievable,” del Prado said. “We
set our goals but we don’t look far ahead either. We
take it a race at a time, we compete to win but that’s
that. We don’t expect to win because we’re aware that
this is the best of the best here.”
It’s
starting to look like the best of the best after the
tournament will be del Prado and Unso. Del Prado will
still race in the 200 meters, the 4x100 and 4x400 in the
weekend. Unso doesn’t have anymore individual races, but
he will join del Prado in the relays.
Is a
five-of-five finish in store for del Prado?
“As I’ve
said, we’re just happy to be here and competing with the
best in the country,” he said. “If I can win more, it’ll
be special because I did it running against the best
there is.”
A second
HS swimmer with 3 golds
IN
swimming, John Zapanta’s performance put a dent on NCR’s
monopoly in pool competition after the Bicol bet copped
the gold in secondary boys’ 100-meter butterfly event.
He timed 59.88 seconds for a third mint after titles in
the 100-meter freestyle and 200 fly.
Zapanta
had a fourth gold medal as part of the 4x50-meter relay.
The Bicol team, which finished the race in one minute
and 44.28 seconds, established a new tournament record.
Zapanta
joined NCR’s Dorothy Hong as the only four-gold winners
in the secondary division.
Hong
secured the mint in the 200-meter backstroke with a time
of two minutes and 30.85 seconds Thursday. She also
previously won the 100 back, and the relays in the 200-
and 400-meter medley.
In
elementary action, Fahad Alkhaldi of NCR was lording it
over the standings. He increased his individual-gold
tally to three after taking the boys’ 50-meter
backstroke title also Thursday. In the latest standings,
NCR was up by a mile in swimming.
The Big
City was leading the elementary division with 112
points, far off Southern Tagalog’s 59 and Central
Luzon’s 24.5.
NCR was
also running a huge lead in the secondary boys’ and
girls’ categories. The boys were up 78 to Southern
Tagalog’s 55, while the girls had 92 to Southern
Tagalog’s 58.
Davao pugs perfect
IN
boxing, for the second straight year, Davao region sent
five boxers into the finals of the five divisions
available.
Mark
Anthony Bariga has a chance to defend his
mosquito-weight (39 lb) title, so does paperweight (42
lb) bet Engelbert Moralde Jr., just two returnees from
the Davao batch that swept through last year’s finals.
“We
didn’t expect to win all the championships [in boxing]
last year,” head coach Rolando Oring said. “This year I
feel the same way. A lot of teams are fielding improved
fighters and they want to beat us.”
Oring
said he will bank on his boxers’ year-round training in
Davao, one of the most heralded province-based programs
in the country.
“The
boys have confidence in their abilities,” Oring said,
“because they’ve been breathing boxing 24/7 since
they’ve entered our program.”
The
finals were all being played early Thursday night.
Parental
support
A
MOTHER’S love will bring her to the ends of the world.
In this case, it brought her on two sides of the
Philippines.
Erlinda
Moralde bucked long, long hours on the road and sea,
canceled flights and back-and-forth boat rides over two
provinces just to be with her two sons who are competing
in Palaro boxing here.
Moralde’s trip was surely an odyssey. She left her home
province of Davao del Norte the morning of April 16,
then arrived here afternoon of April 23. Correct, that’s
one week getting from the easternmost part of the
country to its westernmost city.
“It was
tough, but I was determined to see my kids compete,”
Moralde said.
She took
a bus to
Butuan City,
a boat to Leyte and another bus to get to a port
transferring passengers to
Cebu, where she was hoping to get a plane ride here.
But all
flights were booked. She was advised to go to Iloilo,
but again she couldn’t get a flight.
“I even
had to ask the captain of this oil tanker [docked in
Iloilo] if I could hitch a ride. He said yes, but he
wasn’t sure what time he was leaving for Puerto Princesa,”
Moralde recalled. She finally got on an interisland
vessel that traveled 35 hours between
Iloilo and
Palawan.
“I was
hoping to see my sons during the opening ceremonies,”
Moralde, whose two sons were in the finals of their
respective weight divisions Thursday, said. “But that’s
okay, I’ll be watching them fight for the championship
anyway.”
Heeding
the Palaro’s call
THE
enthusiasm of all delegates reflected in their efforts
to leave their respective regions and be on prolonged
trips by land and water just to participate in the best
sports showcase for athletes under-17.
The kids
of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)—300-strong,
including coaches and team officials—took all of 26
hours to reach this province from Maguindanao. After an
eight-hour bus ride, the ARMM joined the other regional
athletic associations (RAA) of
Mindanao in an 18-hour boat ride from Cagayan de Oro.
The
Davao RAA, however, decided to take the high road—by
plane. The approximately 400-man contingent was divided
into four groups and assigned four different flights via
Air Philippines scheduled in four different dates.
Wasn’t
the P3,000 one-way ticket more expensive than the
usually cheaper boat ride?
“I think
they analyzed the expenses and they found out they’d
actually be spending less if we flew coming here,” said
Davao boxing coach Rolando Oring. |
