Underdogs no more: Mindanao archers proceed to qualifiers

TAGUM CITY, Philippines – Young archers from Mindanao made a surprise show at the 30-meter range event Tuesday, May 5, landing spots on the archery qualifiers in the Palarong Pambansa 2015.

Davao eagle archer Mariz Lagrma and Zambo archer Fhreanch Siao and placed 6th and 8th, respectively, in the secondary girls individual recurve event. Region IX’s Marchel Fernando also placed 7th in the 30-meter and 3rd in the 40-meter events of the sport.

Landing on the top 8 is a momentous event for Mindanao given that National Capital Region’s (NCR) Big City bow hunters and teams from the Visayas have dominated archery in the past years.

“Thrilling kaayo and exciting jud na naa nay representative ang Mindanao sa top eight sa archery, pero dili jud mawala ang kakulba,” ZPRA’s Siao said.

(There’s this thrill and excitement because Mindanao finally has its placers in the archery event. We’re still shaking and nervous though.)

The Palarong Pambansa is the largest grassroots sporting even in the Philippines that aims to develop the potentials of the youth to become responsible and globally competitive citizens.

It is the Department of Education’s (DepEd) way of promoting physical education and sports as an integral part of the Basic Education Curriculum.

‘For Zamboanga’

Yam Ferrer, also an archer from Zamboanga, said that her training under Coach Jestony Bagason – a Palaro alumnus and bemedalled archer himself – has helped her get through the regional finals and make it to the national tourney.

Out of the 4-member Zambo team, only Fernando and Siao qualified. But their other teammates still qualified to participate in the next 50-60 meter events. 

The Zambo-based team said they want to enter the qualifiers together.

“They must really do their best. Every game in archery must be played like it’s your last. They need to get what they aimed for here in Palaro,” coach Jestony Bagason, a Dipolog native, said.

The archery mentor added that the girls’ performance are so far at par with the standards he set.

“May ibubuga sila dito. Maganda na nakasali kami sa top 8 at may tiyansa kaming magmedal,” the hopeful coach said.

(They can show something here. It’s nice to see that we placed in the top eight; we also have a chance of bagging a medal.)

For the underdogs, it’s a new shot at snaring a medal for Mindanao.

Below are the results of the archery qualifiers on Tuesday:

30-meter Secondary Girls Individual Recurve

Tagle, N.M. (VII) – 330 points

Balaoing, L.C. (CAR)- 327 points

Aldea,A. (I)- 326 points

Espejo, S.J. (NCR)- 326 points

Tabaṅag, J.M.N. (NCR)- 324 points

Lagroma, M. (XI)- 322 points

Fernando, M. (IX)- 320 points

Siao, F.J. (IX)- 319 points

40-meter Secondary Girls Individual Recurve

Balaoing, L.C. (CAR) – 312 points

Bangla, S.R. (CAR)- 312 points

Fernando, M. (IX)-310 points

Espejo, S. (NCR)- 307 points

Diuonaldo, A.N. (VII)- 303 points

Faciulan, J.M. (XII) – 302 points

Tabanag,J.M.N. (NCR)- 297 points

Tagle, N.M. (VII)-  294 points

Villapaz from XI- 294 points

– Rappler.com

Annika Questo, an incoming 3rd year high school student, is the managing editor of The Mover, Tagum City National high school’s publication.