VIGAN, Ilocos Sur — An archer from Puerto Princesa took the spotlight for coming up with the most number of gold medals but it was Baguio City that emerged as the biggest winner in the Philippine Sports Commission-Batang Pinoy National Championships here.
Baguio City wrote history as the first-ever three-peat overall champion of the weeklong national grassroots development program for in and out-of-school athletes aged 15 and below after dominating the competition with 29 gold, 27 silver and 35 bronze medals as of noon Wednesday.
“It is not actually a surprise for us. We prepared for this and already had a strong feeling that we can make it to the top,” Baguio sports development officer Gudz Gonzales said.
“Given the experience and competencies of our trainers and coaches, we knew that we can (retain the overall title) plus the fact that our LGU (local government unit) has full support to our athletes.”
The Summer Capital bets mined 12 mints in archery including six from nine-year-old eagle-eyed archer Jathniel Caleb Fernandez, eight in virtual taekwondo events, five in muay and one each in arnis, judo, wushu and swimming to overwhelm the competition.
Fernandez added the Olympic round gold medal to his collection following victories in the boys’ 10-under 10m, 15m, 20m, 30m and 1440 events.
However, Miguel Adrian Carlos turned out to be the most bemedaled athlete as he collected seven gold medals in the archery range set up at the San Ildefonso Central School grounds.
The seventh grader from Paawan National School topped the boys’ 13-under 20m, 25m, 30m, 40, FITA and Olympic round events and paired up with Lizette Bagnol to rule the mixed team event.
“We were surprised he won all seven gold medals. But he really trained hard for this,” Carlos’ father and coach Ramil said of his son who started archery at the tender age of five and now following the footsteps of his older brother, Nathaniel, who won gold in the 2019 Batang Pinoy Puerto Princesa edition.
Also winning six gold medals in archery was Adrianna Jessi Magbojos of Sta. Rosa City after dominating the girls’ 10-under 10m, 15m, 20m, 30m, 1440 and Olympic round events.
Laguna took the second spot in the medal standings after overtaking Quezon City with 18-10-13 gold-silver-bronze tally. QC dropped to third with 15-9-13 followed by Lapu-Lapu City (14-6-5) and General Santos City (13-12-10).
Wrapping up the top 10 were Pasig (13-9-9), Iloilo (12-10-13, Masbate got all of its 11 gold medals from athletics to go with seven silver and six bronze, Lucena (11-7-3) and Davao City (9-13-28).
Over at the Quirino Stadium track, 15-year-old Leonelyn Compuesto of Masbate claimed five gold medals winning the girls’ century dash and 4×400 relay.
She crossed the 100m run finish line in 13.11 (103) seconds to beat Schenley Ombid of South Cotabato (13.11 (109) secs) and Angel Villagracia of Capiz (13.47 secs). Compuesto’s relay team clocked in at 4:14.96 to best Calamba (4:29.30) and Binan (4:35.77).
The 10th grader from Masbate Sports Academy earlier won mints in 200m, 400m and 4×100 relay.
Jolo Mondero of Pangasinan grabbed gold in the boys’ 100m run, Lorraine Batalla of Calamba ruled the girls’ 1500m run while Rafael Guinto of Olongapo netted the boys’ division of the event. Laguna won the boys’ 4x400m relay.
At the Quirino Stadium pool, Julian De Kam scooped his fifth gold with the boys’ 13-15 4x50m freestyle relay triumph to add to his 200m, 400m and 1500m free and 100m butterfly earlier.
In chess at the Baluarte in Vigan, Zhaoyu Capilitan of Cagayan de Oro claimed her third mint in the girls’ Under-11 team blitz with Ashzley Aya Nicole Paquinol as the two finished with a combined score of 11 points.
Capilitan’s other golden efforts came in individual and team standard events the day before. She was gunning for a fourth and fifth gold in the individual and rapid events at press time.
In table tennis, Capiz’s Reiner James Vidal (hopes boys singles), Pangasinan’s Kloe Venice Cascolan (hopes girls singles) and Rhiyana Cryzzel Balisacan (mini-cadet girls singles), Manila’s Khevine Keith Cruz (mini-cadet boys singles), General Santos’ Jebb Jerwin Datahan (cadet boys singles) and Pasig’s Jogyasa Gopii Cabrido (cadet girls singles) all brought home a gold each.
