Palarong Pambansa: Region 7 finishes 4th

CEBU CITY, Philippines - Central Visayas’ tennis and football teams contributed the much needed points for Region 7’s decent fourth place finish in the elementary and high school divisions of the 2008 Palarong Pambansa in Puerto Princesa, Palawan which wrapped up yesterday. Yesterday, Central Visayas took the gold in tennis, football and taekwondo with 27 silvers and 15 bronze from secondary football, archery and basketball. NCR took the overall title in the elementary and high school contest with 375 and 263 points, respectively. Western Visayas and Region 4A also took the second and third places, respectively, in both divisions. Central Visayas finished in fourth place after tallying 127.17 points in the secondary division and 140 in the elementary division. Leading the charge in the elementary division were teammates Jacob Lagman and Fritz Satera, who pulled off a 1-2 finish in the singles finals of the boys contest division. Lagman avenged his loss to Satera in the regional meet with an 8-4 trouncing. The win puts a happy ending to Lagman’s Palaro campaign, which according to the Jacob’s mother, Julie, was an answered prayer. “When we landed in Palawan, we prayed together to help Jacob win and indeed it happened," said Julie. “Daily practice and daily prayers really worked. We told Jacob in the morning of the finals match that it is now or never. He will never be able to compete in the elementary division again," said Julie. Lagman will be in high school this coming school year. “It was a team effort because everyone really worked hard. Knowing that both Region 7 players made it to the final round was already good news because we were already assured of the top two spots," Julie said. Each rank has corresponding points and winning the top two spots mean that region got the most number of points. In the secondary division, Bernardine Niño Siso was having an off day as he squandered a title chance against Kim Ivor Saraza, 4-8 in the finals. Making up for the debacle were John Francis Largo and Larry Antigua, who took home the doubles title following their 8-3 massacre of Bobby Chio and Noelito Pacana of Region 10. Also putting up points for Region 7 on the last day were the football teams. The elementary division won over NCR in an easy 5-0 bashing. The Don Bosco College-led squad, with Joselito Bono as coach, went undefeated to capture its second Palaro title in three years. The secondary division were, however, not as lucky as they lost in the finals to Western Visayas, 4-2, via shootout. They earlier defeated Davao, 2-1, on goals by Bran Go and Manjo Mayormita just 10 minutes apart to set up a finale against Western Visayas, which enjoyed a twice-to-beat edge. Despite playing their second game with barely an hour’s rest, the Mario Ceniza-coached squad managed to hold Region 6 to a scoreless draw before losing in the shootout to earn Region 7’s first top three finish since 2000. Even if two Visayas squads made it to the finals, Ceniza warned that the Mindanao will have the dominant teams in future Palaros. Improvement “They have made tremendous improvement. I believe in two to three years, they will really dominate if we can not develop our grassroots program," said Ceniza. Ceniza said Go, who scored in almost every game for Region 7, also got the eye of the coaches of the universities in Manila. “However, he is still young, he is still in second year," said Ceniza. One of those who wanted to get Go for his collegiate team was De la Salle University coach Marlon Maro. On the other hand, the elementary basketball team, which is coached by former University of San Carlos point guard Vernini Tangarorang, bowed to Central Luzon in the finals to settle for silver medal. Region 7, made up mostly of players from USC, lost, 61-51. “Our players are still very young compared to our opponents, who are clearly a lot older," Tangarorang said. Tangarorang added that while they question the ages of their opponents they could no longer do anything about it because it’s too late to file a protest. Silver “At least we still got a silver. It is not bad considering the circumstances. There is still next year and we will still try our best," he said. Winning last-minute golds for the region were taekwondo jins Hazel tanya Jumawan and Jennessa Mae Vergara, who topped the featherweight and lightweight divisions. Lord Jay Guia and Rovel Mendoza won two bronzes for the team. The badminton team also won four silvers from the elementary boys doubles competition and the secondary girls doubles contest. - Sun.Star Cebu