
CAMALIG, Philippines – The archery duo of Ma. Ferimi Gleam Bajado and Nicole Marie Tagle from Dumaguete City should not be underestimated.
Bajado and Tagle, both aged 14 from Silliman University and representing the Negros Island Region (NIR), placed first and second, respectively, in the 36 arrows at 40 meters girls archery competition held Tuesday, April 12 here.
So far, they have described their experience as “tense” and a “roller coaster” ride. Bajado in particular failed to gain a medal for 30 meters as she placed sixth. She accepted the result nonetheless.
Tagle, meanwhile, gained the silver medal in the 30 meters and expressed sadness over missing out on the gold.
“I was slightly disappointed kasi sayang yung opportunity (because the opportunity was wasted),” Tagle lamented.
Her final score of 332 was off by only two points against Central Luzon’s Clarisse Michaelle Castro with 334 points.
“Accept na lang rin. Ganun talaga,” she said. (I accept it, that’s how it is.)
Tagle however managed to finally earn gold medals for the 50-meter event, and single FITA archery and another silver for 60 meters, which was held the next day.
This was Bajado’s first time to compete in the Palaro while this is Tagle’s second. Tagle represented Central Visayas before the formation of the NIR.
Although Tagle is competing this year under a new region, she says that she is still friends with her former allies from Central Visayas and at the same time, she is making new friends from NIR despite the slight language barrier.
Training together
Bajado says that they had been training for 10 hours a day in preparation for the event.
“We’ve trained hard talaga for this competition,” she said. (We’ve really trained hard for this competition.)
During the regional meet, the two battled for the gold medal as they considered personal competition as part of their training.
They have known each other since they were in the same class in second grade. But how they got into archery are two different stories.
Bajado was practicing archery for 4 years already with hopes that one day she would become part of the national archery team, while Tagle got into the sport partly because of her uncle.
“Yung uncle ko kasi gusto niya mag-archery before (My uncle wanted to become an archer),” she said. “So, gusto niya na isa sa generation namin na mag-suportahan para sa sport.” (So, he wanted that one from our generation to continue supporting the sport.)
Tagle said that she drew inspiration from the Hunger Games – a book and movie series with a female archer as the primary protagonist – and national archers who have won medals in international competitions.
Plans
With the strong support of their parents and coaches, the tandem aims to continue what they are doing in the field of archery and dreams that one day they’ll get the opportunity to compete in other places and even represent the Philippines in international competitions.
Tagle, for her part, said the lesson she learned from her close matches is the need to be more disciplined. She also urges anyone interested to get into archery.
“The number of archers, especially in Dumaguete, hindi talaga marami (aren’t that many). Join archery!” she encouraged.
“If you really want to reach this height, you need to work hard, you need to be disciplined, and ‘di mo dapat kalimutan si God (don’t forget God),” Bajado advised aspiring archers. “You should love what you’re doing so you could reach your goal.” – Randall Mattew Lorayes/Rappler.com
Randall Matthew Lorayes is a Rappler intern on his third year in AB Broadcasting in Bicol University.
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