Favorites sustain splurge in PNG
BACOLOD CITY—Olympic archer Mark Javier, top wrestler Margarito Angana Jr. and world-class cue artist Rubilen Amit took the spotlight yesterday on the penultimate day of the Philippine National Games here.
Javier, a veteran of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, ruled the 70-meter Olympic round of men’s recurve aside from topping the preliminary 70m, 50m and single Fita events.
Florante Matan denied Javier a sweep, however, after beating him by a single point, 347-346 in the 30m.
Amit, the country’s first female world pool champion, ruled the women’s nine-ball singles over Mary Ann Basas, 11-7, while Angana, the No. 1 Greco-roman specialist based on national rankings, was unchallenged in the 55-kilogram weight category.
Marie Crizabelle Merto, an incoming Silliman University High School senior, sparkled in women’s recurve, winning the 30m, 50m, 60m, 70m and single Fita.
Amit, the 2009 women’s world 10-ball champion, raced to a 9-2 lead but lost the next five racks before getting her rhythm back to run out the last two frames.
Basas reached the finals after drubbing 11-year-old Cheska Centeno, 9-3, in the loser’s bracket, at the Gaisano Mall.
“There’s a title on the line so I consider this a big win,” said the 29-year-old Amit.
Jeffrey De Luna captured the gold in the men’s side following an 11-8 win over Davao standout Delfin Tugado, a9-8 winner over Ramil Gallego in the semifinals.
In tennis, Clarisse Patrimonio stunned top seed and older sister Christine, 6-4, 6-2, to clinch the women’s singles gold medal while top-ranked Elbert Anasta subdued unseeded Israel Abarquez of Cebu, 6-3, 7-5, for the men’s plum at the Center Court Tennis Club.
The daughters of four-time PBA MVP Alvin Patrimonio easily hurdled their opponents in the semifinals with the 19-year-old Christine trouncing Tamitha Olivarez-Nguyen, 6-2, 6-2, and Clarisse, 17, routing Marian Capadocia, 6-3, 6-1.
“She (Clarisse) had more tournaments and practice time coming in,” said Christine, the country’s former No. 1 female player.
The Patrimonio sisters, who accepted scholarships at National University for the coming school year, also grabbed the women’s doubles at the expense of Olivarez-Nguyen and Capadocia, 6-7,
6-4, 6-3.
Anasta, 30, a former Davis Cupper, later teamed up with Juvan Divinagracia to post a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Leander Lazaro and Dheo Talatayod in the men’s doubles finals.
Another sibling rivalry emerged in soft tennis after Joseph and Jhomar Arcilla finished 1-2 in the men’s singles. Noelle Conchita Zoleta clinched the women’s singles.
Mary Pauline Fornea clinched the gold in girls’ triathlon in one hour, 23 minutes and three seconds, 14 minutes ahead of runner-up Samantha Tiro (1:37:14) while Kevin Eijansantos ruled the boys’ side in 1:07:46. Banjo Norte settled for silver (1:09:21).
Top triathlon favorite Philip Jurolan failed to finish after he was hit by a motorcycle in the early stretch of the bike leg and sustained bruises on different parts of the body.
Wrestler Joshua Dinglasa, 16, set new marks in the secondary and youth categories after lifting 85kgs in the snatch and 105 in the clean and jerk for a total of 190, erasing the previous secondary and youth records in the snatch (76), clean and jerk (100) and total (176).
