Batang Pinoy: Cebu City begins gold rush in Tagum

TAGUM CITY, Philippines – After a gold drought on the first day of competitions, Team Cebu City bounced back and is now lording it over in the 2016 Batang Pinoy National Finals with 28 golds, 14 silvers and 9 bronze medals for a total of 51 medals with only two days left in the competition.

Trailing at current second place is Baguio City with a medal count of 18-13-10 and at third place is Zamboanga City with 18-8-6.

Zenaida Gocotano, sports coordinator of the Department of Education Cebu City division, said that they are very satisfied with the delegation’s performance considering that their medal count could still go up as most events are not done yet. 

So far, of the 24 events contested here in Tagum, only 5 have ended namely swimming, triathlon, duathlon, cycling and pencak silat.

Gocotano added that they were apprehensive to start with as it is the first time that they brought this many delegates, which numbered to about 300. 

This is the first time that the Cebu City Sports Commission is sending that many athletes. Usually, they only send those who are involved with the Cebu City grassroots development.

However, this year, it was decided that the city will as well send those who’ve won in the recently held Cebu City Olympics.      

“At first we were apprehensive but with the results right now, we are very satisfied because the athletes whom we brought delivered, and we have not wasted any of the games so far,” said Gocotano.

Gocotano said that this is a result of a good consultation to find balance between bringing the best of Cebu’s athletes and those involved in the CCSC grassroots development, which she said they were able to accomplish. 

The bulk of Cebu City’s gilts come from Dancesports with a total of 8 gold medals while Karatedo and Taekwondo contributed 5 apiece. The rest were won in weightlifting with 3, and two each from Archery, Athletics and Tennis.

The medal haul in dancesports was led by the duo of Lloyd Simon Asuque and Raylyn Jhea Romeo who fished gold in the Standard Junior C and Latin Junior C.

Partners Andrew Ysla and Noelyn Mie Pedrano also chipped in two gilts via the Standrad Youth A and Latin Youth A.

Other gold medals came from Jim Jocson and Mitchloni Dinauanano (Standard Juvenile A), Jaydel Fresh Pat and Angel Therese Epe (Latin Juvenile A), Gylle Nino Diluvio and Julie Paz Branzuela (Standard Junior A), and Jake Emmanuel Corro and Anndreah Kiem Capangpangan (Latin Junior A).

Athletics

Over at the DavNor Sports and Complex tracks, Samantha Gem Limos does it again by being uncontested in the Girls 100-m dash with a time of 12 minutes and 41 seconds.

Her time was actually faster by 7 seconds than the record she set in last year’s Batang Pinoy held in Cebu City which was 12.48. However, her new time was not considered a record by officials because they determined that the race was wind-assisted due to the wind velocity at the time she ran. She had actually ran faster at 12.39 in the semifinals but it was also not considered for the same reasons.

The other gilt in athletics was contributed by Seth Abraham Pilapil who triumphed in a photo finish to clinch gold in the Boys 100-m dash with a time of 11.26.

Pilapil also anchored his teammates John Marvin Rafols, John Paul Apilan and Mike Laurence Lopez to a gold finish in the 4×100-m relay. – Rappler.com