NCR bets winningest in CHED Games

A deluge of victories in the team events affirmed the status of the National Capital Region as the winningest performers as the CHED National Games came to a rousing close Saturday. While no awards were given to the overall champions, bragging rights in the event belonged to the NCR sports juggernaut, which steamrolled the opposition in chess, badminton, baseball, basketball, women’s softball and table tennis.

With only men’s softball left unaccounted for, NCR was way on top of the medal standings with 162 gold, 42 silver and 40 bronze medals, with Region 6 (Western Visayas) a distant second (40-66-54), Region 7 third (33-42-34), and Region 4-A (Calabarzon) fourth (25-37-46). Padding the NCR goldmine was the fact that team events account for the number of players seeing action in a particular sport, so a relay team in athletics or swimming – composed of four athletes each – is awarded four medals in the overall standings. Swimming (55) and athletics (31) thus accounted for three-fourths of NCR’s gold output. Commissioner on Higher Education chairman Emmanuel Angeles called the 2010 edition a success, saying the revived meet was able to spot potentials who may one day compete for flag and country in international competitions. Angeles cited track sensation Serenata Saluan, a Tausug native and UST freshman student, who won four golds, and UP swimmers Maria Claire Adorna and Carla Grabador, who captured seven and six golds, respectively. “We hope that these standouts can one day compete for us in international events such as the Southeast Asian Games," said Angeles, adding that he might endorse these three athletes to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to become members of the national pool. On the other hand, PSC chairman Harry Angping said the CHED Games has “showcased the strengths of our young Filipino athletes and has proven to be a rich avenue for NSA [national sports associations] and the PSC to identify new talent." Typifying NCR’s dominance was men’s basketball, where reigning NCAA San Sebastian crushed Region 11’s Ateneo de Davao, 99-83, in the finals to complete a five-game sweep of the event. NCR, represented by Lyceum University, also finished its unbeaten run in the women’s cagefest by routing Central Visayas’ University of San Carlos, 71-51, for the gold. Table tennis was also a stomping ground for NCR, bagging four of the seven events at stake. The Big City bets likewise swept the men’s and women’s chess competitions, good for four golds apiece, while they also snared eight golds in badminton. NCR also bagged the women’s softball gold while Region II and the Cordillera Autonomous Region settled for the bronze and silver, respectively. Region 6 (Western Visayas), however, was tops in men’s karatedo with six golds while Region 7 (Central Visayas) dominated the distaff side with a whopping 10 golds. Region 6 (Western Visayas) reigned supreme in dance sports with the pair of Alde and Melanie Flor Agustin topping the modern standard contest and the tandem of Philip Lui Deocadiz and Shandel Revalez snaring the gold in the Latin American category. Western Visayas, with a composite squad from Bacolod and Iloilo collegiate standouts, nipped Region 9, 2-1, to clinch the men’s football championship. Region 7 and Region 11 split the men’s and women’s beach volleyball titles. - GMANews.TV