Cebu City wins overall crown
Cebu City bagged the overall championship after hauling more golds in lawn tennis, swimming and boxing in the final day of the Batang Pinoy 2011 Visayas qualifying leg in Dumaguete City.
Cebu City finished with 52 golds, 37 silvers and 31 bronze medals to emerge as the overall champion in the Visayas qualifying leg.
Bacolod City finished at second place with 34 golds, 18 silvers and 23 bronzes while host Dumaguete City grabbed 27 golds, 23 silvers at 27 bronzes.
The two Cebu City boxers who entered the finals went on to win the gold medal with contrasing victories even as the Queen City of the South’s swimmers and netters completely dominated their regional rivals.
Junrel Jimenez, a 15-year-old second year student in Abellana National School, stopped Albino Tihuk Jr. of Sipalay at the 48-second mark of the first round for a referee-stopped contest victory in the 46-kilogram light pinweight division.
Jimenez earlier scored a quick 26-second stoppage in the semifinals after connecting on four solid punches against June Rhay Angque of Dumaguete City in the opening round that prompted the latter’s coach to throw in the white towel.
Not to be outdone was Jimenez’s teammate Hipolito Banal Jr., the younger brother of current World Boxing Organization Asia Pacific bantamweight champion AJ “Bazooka” Banal, who claimed a shutout 5-0 win against Daniel Folio of Dumaguete in the paper weight (44 kg) division.
Cebu City collected a total of 13 golds, 16 silvers and 9 bronze medals in the swimming event to edge Bacolod City, which grabbed 13 golds, 10 silvers and 10 bronzes while host Dumaguete took home 10 golds, 10 silvers and 11 bronzes.
Leading the Cebuano tankers were 12-year-old Filipino-Japanese Michael Ichiro Kong, who is fresh from winning four gold medals in the POC-PSC National Games, and 13-year-old Anthony Linn Navarro, who is coming off a stint in the SEA Games Youth swimming open in Vietnam. Both claimed five golds.
Kong won the gold in the boys’ 100m butterfly, 200m medley relay, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle while Navarro dominated the boys’ 200m medley relay, 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 50m backstroke.
The Queen City of the South also grabbed five of the six gold medals at stake in tennis with victories in the girls’ singles, boys’ singles, girls’ doubles, boys’ doubles and mixed doubles. pr
