The 450-strong Catanduanes delegation to the 2011 Palarong Bicol in Guinabatan, Albay improved on its last year’s performance by finishing 5th overall in the regional games that ended last week.
Division Sports Coordinator Miguel Ogalinola told the Tribune that the island’s best athletes garnered third place in the elementary level, same as in 2010, while the secondary athletes moved up two rungs to 7th, from 9th last year.
The powerhouse hosts, with over 800 athletes, grabbed the overall championship, with Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Naga City placing 2nd to 4th, respectively.
In the elementary level, Catanduanes emerged champion in basketball, lawn tennis (girls), swimming (boys), and table tennis (boys), earning 21 golds in the process. This does not includes golds in athletics (boys), with 2 golds; chess (girls), with 3 golds; and, lawn tennis (boys), with 2 golds. Had the softball team not lost its championship game, Catanduanes would have moved up a notch in the overall standings, Ogalinola said.
In the secondary level, the delegation won the championship trophy in basketball and chess (girls), while winning golds in boys’ arnis (2), boys’ athletics (3), boys’ lawn tennis (2), and boys’ swimming (1).
Along with the boy swimmers, the basketball teams got the adulation of the audience by stampeding through the opposition, winning by large margins. The elementary basketball team trounced Camarines Sur in the title game by over 30 points while the secondary team toyed with finals opponent Iriga City, which was forced to quit with over two minutes remaining in the third quarter and Catanduanes ahead by more than 40 points.
Aside from the first-runner-up finish in softball, the elementary athletes had nothing to show for the rest of the events in which they participated. On the other hand, the secondary level snatched a silver in boxing, three more in chess (boys), and bronzes in softball and table tennis (boys).
Twenty-five athletes from Catanduanes, headed by outstanding chess player Angelica Charisse Zafe who dominated her event without a loss or draw, will participate in the 2011 Palarong Pambansa in Dapitan City, Zamboange del Norte, sometime in May. The champion teams in basketball will send five players each, or more if the other players from the rest of Bicol decide to sit it out.
Governor Joseph Cua gave each athlete P300 each, with each official P500, during his visit to the delegation Feb. 12 while Congressman Cesar Sarmiento gifted each athlete P100 each plus P200 for each official on opening day.
source: http://www.catanduanestribune.com/Feb-23-2011/TopStory/Detail.aspx?newsID=7886
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