CEBU CITY — Thriving under “positive pressure” Jonathan Reaport and Ada Lagrada led a record-breaking spree for local archers at the start of the 1st Asean Archery Youth Championships at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex here on
Thursday.
Veterans of the world youth meet held last July in Limerick, Ireland, Reaport and Lagrada shot 639 and 613 points, respectively, in setting two of the six new national junior marks to rule the men’s and women’s Under-21 70-meter recurve
qualifiers in the meet organized by World Archery Philippines.
Both carrying the colors of Olympus Archery Club, Reaport broke his previous record of 632 set at the world youth tourney while Lagrada surpassed her own mark of 582 in a tournament held last January at the STI Gold Toe archery
range in Marikina.
More importantly, Reaport’s score was just one point short of the minimum Olympic qualifying standard of 640 while Lagrada exceeded the minimum Olympic qualifying standard of 610 in the competition backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and
Cebu City Sports Commission.
Cebu Archery Club’s Aldener Igot Jr. gave fellow Cebuanos also something to cheer for in topping the men’s under-18 recurve qualifying round in a new mark in shooting 646 points, shattering the old mark of 631 by Lawrence Enecio in the same
Marikina tourney last January.
Salt and Arrow Archery Academy’s Naina Tagle also joined record-breaking club in topping the women’s recurve under-18 qualifying round with a tally of 639 points.
The most bemedaled archer in the girls secondary division of the last Palarong Pambansa, Tagle shattered the old mark of Giulana Garcia of 614 also in the same Marikina meet.
In the compound event, University of Baguio Archery Club’s Alon Yuan Jucutan scored 683 points in getting top spot in the men’s under-18 qualifying round, besting his own score of 673 at the Ireland meet.
Rounding out the record-breakers was Olympus Archery Club’s Cassandra Alexei Garcia, whose score of 688 in the women’s under-18 compound qualifiers was superior to her old record of 645 also set at the world youth competition.
“On top of playing on their homecourt, I believe our archers are thriving under positive pressure due to the fact that they are also up against foreign rivals in this tournament,” national youth coach Nino Sinco said.
Taiwanese You Yu-tong was the topnotcher in girls der-13 recurve qualifying round with 686 points while Mansour Alkelbi ruled the boys under-13 qualifiers with 657 points.
WAP secretary general Rosendo Sombrio also cited WAP board members, led by president Clint Aranas, Rep. John Peter Orbeta, Sheree Gotoaco and Boone Ongchoco for their unremitting support of the tournament meant to raise the level of play
among youth archers in Asia.
