Mission accomplished

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur, Philippines — The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) successfully accomplished its goal in the 61st Palarong Pambansa and that is to land the No.4 spot at the end of the annual sports conclave yesterday here at the Quirino Stadium.

After its worst finish ever at ninth place last year in Antique, Central Visayas returned to fourth place with its 26 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze medals.

As usual, powerhouse National Capital Region bagged the overall championship with 100 golds, 70 silvers and 50 bronzes.  Calabarzon copped the second place honors with 55-50-73 gold-silver-bronze followed by Western Visayas with 46-45-55 medal tally.

It was a thrilling battle for Central Visayas athletes before clinching the No.4 spot as CARAA gave them a scare. CARAA got 25-22-23 medal tally good for fifth place.

Completing the list of regions which made it to the top 10 were Region X, Region XII, CLRAA, DavRAA and Region II.

“I would like to congratulate the athletes and coaches. I know how hard you prepared,” said Cebu City Councilor Joy Agustus Young. “We were able to reclaim the fourth overall and I am happy with the outcome but the same time a little disappointed because of the poor performance coming from our Cebu City public school athletes. We are also far behind in terms of medals against the No.3 team.”

The core of the CVIRAA contingents are from Cebu City, while the rest are from Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, Cebu Province, Naga, Talisay, Bayawan, Danao, Tanjay, Negros Oriental, Dumaguete, Tagbilaran and Bohol Province.

Central Visayas ended its campaign by grabbing gold medal in boxing through the efforts of Boholano Gerwin Asilo. Asilo scored a lopsided unanimous decision victory over Western Visayas’s Charls Conel in the bantamweight finals.

Light flyweight Eduardo Jimenez settled for silver after losing via split decision against Salvador Caasi of Eastern Visayas, while Jorge Anthony Llamado (lightweight), Eric James Opus (bantamweight) and Vicente Sios-e Jr. (light welterweight) contributed with a bronze medal apiece.

CV’s elementary boys football and secondary girls 3-on-3 basketball squad both have a silver medal finish in their respective events.

Region 7’s badminton team ended their bid with two silvers and a bronze medal.

Hailne Reeze Diaz failed to win the gold after losing against Western Visayas’ Reshane Marie Nicor, 21-13, 21-16 while Anthone Peter Abellana and Carl Bernard Bejasa faltered against Calabarzon’s Jeno Carino and Nestojan Tapales in the doubles finals.

The tandem of Shayne Boloran and Daisy Brendey Pregio, for their part, settled for the bronze. (FREEMAN)