Hurdler, gymnast shine Central Visayas runs fourth overall in Palaro with 13 golds

BANTAY, Ilocos Sur, Philippines — Central Visayas top hurdler Riza Jane Vallente completed a rare grandslam in athletics for the region, while gymnast Daniela Reggie de la Pisa ended powerhouse National Capital Region’s reign in rhythmic gymnastics in the 61st Palarong Pambansa here at the Heritage Province.

Vallente, who hails from Mabini, Bohol, held her ground a tough field of opposition to collect his third gold in a row in the secondary girls 400-meter hurdles event of athletics competition

The 16-year-old Vallente had mixed feelings on being able to defend her title after logging only the second best time during the qualifying heats.

But instead of getting discouraged, Vallente made it a motivation to do better in the finals. With that, she even posted her best time of one minute and 1.45 seconds.

Though she missed to set a Palaro record, Vallente is just happy to be able to finally break CV’S jinx in athletics at the Quirino stadium .

“Happy ko nga na defend nako ako 400m hurdles title for the third straight year. Medyo nakuyawan pud, medyo pressured kay wa pa mi medal sa athletics, pero na-overcome ra pud nako ug ako lang gyud gibuhat akong best,” said Vallente, an honor student of La Union High School in Candijay.

Over at the municipality of Sta. Maria, more than an hour away from the town of Bantay, Daniela Reggie de la Pisa snatched the overall individual gold of the rhythmic gymnastics away from the powerhouse National Capital Region, the first time in the history of Palaro.

“Wa pa gyud ni nahitabo sa una nga nakadaog ta’g gold sa overall individual. Pwerting hilak ni Dadai (Daniela) ug ni Darlene (Daniela’s mom and coach) kay wa makatuo nga makuha gyud ang gold,” said Daniela’s father Randy.

Daniela had very impressive performance in hoop and rope, posting 14.617 and 12.217 points before she committed a mistake thrice in one of her supposed favorites, the clubs that got her only 8.850. She bounced back though with a sterling performance in the ball, rating at 14.883 to come up with a total of 50.567 points.

Daniela bested two NCR bets, Divina Sembrano (50.467) and Jahezelle Limenson (48.950) who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.

With her golden finish in the individual all-around, Daniela hopes to get more golds in the individual apparatus today.

Later on, artistic gymnast Euricka Eisley Soronio added another gold through the elementary girls cluster 2 balance beam.

At San Ildefonso, Dumaguete’s Phoebe Nicole Amistoso of Silliman University continued to soar, collecting her third gold via the 50-meter event of archery competition with 330 points.

Another Silliman University student, Monique Ramas-Uypitching, converted her bronze last year into gold in the elementary girls 50-meter breast stroke with a time of 37.11 seconds, CV’s first in swimming.

“I didn’t expect to win the gold, but I prepared well for this event.I felt really happy that I am able to contribute a gold for the team. My parents are also with me that makes this victory extra special,” said the 12 year-old  Ramas-Uypitching.

At the Philippine Science High School gym, CV’s table tennis squad got another gold via the secondary girls doubles event through the efforts of Danao’s Kathryn and Shaira Gabisay.

Taekwondo, on the other hand, finally contributed gold through the efforts of Johann Abelard Concepcion in the secondary boys’ poomsae.

In arnis, six CV are already in the semifinal round and are assured of at least one bronze each.

They also got two golds in the elementary level, but it was only a demo class.

In the unofficial medal tally, Central Visayas currently stands with 13 golds, eight silvers and seven bronzes, good for fourth place behind National Capital Region (26-126-12), Calabarzon (15-16-25) and Socsargen (14-12-13).(FREEMAN)