WUSHU artists saved the day for Davao Region Athletic Association (Davraa) after collecting four gold medals and two bronzes even as its swimming and arnis teams also accounted for golds in the Palarong Pambansa 2017 in Antique Province as of Friday, April 28.
Kent William Alcala, Rudy Serna, Jr., Jeah Alexis Narra and RoniMarielle Santiago emerged champions in their respective divisions of the wushu competition held at Hamtic Central School.
Alcala defeated Colin John Banusan of Cordillera Administrative Region to pocket the secondary boys’ group B 42-kilograms (kg) while Serna beat Alvious Cordero Jr. to annex the secondary boys group A 56-kg
Narra.
Narra for her part, topped the secondary girls group A 48-kg over Kate Millinie Telaid of Northern Mindanao while Santiago bested Angelica Saludares of Western Visayas to capture the gold in the secondary girls group A 52-kg event.
Davraa's wushu bronze winners were Arnel Degamos (secondary boys’ group B 48-kg) and Geraldine Ladapan (secondary girls group B 45-kg).
Lady arnisdors Denise Lagumbay and Sheila Mae Morales, for their part, also clinched golds. Lagumbay subdued Jessica Cabano-ang of Calabarzon Region in their secondary girls featherweight championship match while Morales won the secondary girls half lightweight gold at the expense of Patricia Mae Villaluz of Central Luzon.
In swimming, Eryk Omandam gave Davraa a gold in elementary boys 100m butterfly as he clocked one minute and 6.04 seconds while Andre Geronimo (1:06.20) of Calabarzon got the silver and Mico del Poso (1:06.20) of Central Luzon settled for the bronze during third day of swimming competition Thursday, April 27.
The Davraa elementary girls’ 4X50-meter freestyle relay team of Joanna Gonzales, Lora Micah Amoguis, Martha Montano and Maiki Gonzaga registered 2:04.46 to take home the gold over NCR (2:05.57) and Ilocos Region (2:06.15) teams.
Davraa tanker Matthieu Adrien Tao of Davao City, for his part, salvaged a bronze in elementary boys 400m freestyle event on the heels of winning three golds (200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 4X50 medley relay) while Juliana Villanueva also took a bronze in elementary girls 400m freestyle and Christian Paul Anor of Davao Oriental got the secondary boys 800m freestyle silver.
Ivo Nikolai Enot also copped a silver for Davraa in elementary boys 50m backstroke.
Davraa's Germar Dave Marcelo, who already has two Palaro golds to his credit, lost steam and cornered a bronze instead in secondary boys 1,500m run as injured teammate Mea Gey Niñura, who was a 2016 Palaro double gold medalist and record-breaker, ended up with the secondary girls 1,500m silver.
Davraa garnered a total of 17 golds, 16 silvers and 18 bronzes as of 5:40 p.m. Friday. The National Capital Region is poised to defend its overall championship with 82 golds, 44 silvers and 37 bronzes.
