Aklan lass wins first gold, Bisdaks sputter

Dumaguete City— She’d been longing for a return trip to the Palarong Pambansa after a three-year absence. Yesterday, Jerrymay Rubias’ dream was fulfilled in a comeback as shining as her gold medal.

This 15-year-old lass from barangay Tondog, Aklan made a smashing return to the annual meet by bagging the first gold medal disputed in the 2013 Palarong Pambansa at the Gov. Mariano Perdices Memorial Stadium.

Rubias, of Region 6, ruled the secondary girls javelin throw event, throwing the spear to a distance of 39.59 meters, eclipsing her previous personal-best of 37 meters.

“I am so happy. My dream of returning to Palaro was realized and it became more meaningful because I won a gold. I am proud of myself,” said Rubias, who received congratulatory phone calls from her principal and teachers from Tangalan National High School in Aklan, where she is a third-year high school student.

The second among three siblings, Rubias marked her first foray into the country’s battle of secondary and elementary athletes with a silver finish in the same event in the 2010 Palaro in Tarlac.

She tried but failed to compete again in the Palaro since then but the three-year hiatus didn’t dampen her spirits and even motivated her to train harder.

Her bid to earn a second tour of duty was a huge struggle after she barely made it to this year’s Palaro.

In a Palaro qualifying meet in Roxas City, Rubias’ first five throws were foul attempts, leaving her with just one throw to advance, according to her coach Michael Ibo.

Luckily, Rubia found her mark in her last attempt and went on to win the gold with a 36-meter throw.

“I really worked hard because I badly wanted to earn another shot at Palaro. I trained in the morning and in the afternoon. Sundays are my only rest days,” she said.

For her feat, Rubias said she could get a cash incentive from Tangalan Mayor Gene Fuentes.

Education secretary Armin Luistro alsp announced earlier that medal finishers in this year’s Palaro will receive cash prizes, a first in the history of the annual meet.

Rubias also represents Region 6 in discus throw.

NO GOLD FOR BISDAKS

While Region 6, which finished second in the overall race last year, quickly made its presence felt, Region 7 got off to a rather slow start after settling for just two silvers.

Gia Bucag settled for a fifth place in the event ruled by Rubias with a 35.91 throw.

Renante Padilla captured silver in the elementary men’s artistic gymnastics, while Francin Ly Coyoca, Diane Navarro and Eunie Soronio harvested silver in the team event of the elementary women’s artistics gymnastics.

Though it was denied of a gold in the first day of competition, Region 7 remains optimistic of a succesful campaign.

“It’s just the first day of competition where most of the games were still preliminaries. In fact, we were glad with the results of the other games,” said Vivian Ginete, executive secretary of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVRAA) sports council.

Region 7 had three boxers making it to the next round in the elementary division with John Antoque (34 kilograms), Clint Gersale (40kgs) and Kitceron Garces (46kgs) winning over separate foes.

The secondary basketball team dumped Region 3, 85-73, while the secondary football team prevailed over Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), 3-0.

Also scoring wins in the secondary competition were the baseball boys team, volleyball boys and table tennis boys team.

In the secondary girls, Region 7 won in basketball, tennis team event, softball and volleyball.

In the elementary boys, Region 7 emerged victorious in the tennis singles and doubles and table tennis team event while the elementary division, Region 7 scored wins in the softball and table tennis team event.