Del Prado leads PH athletes’ charge

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Second-generation sprinter Isidro del Prado Jr. and a young band of poomsae artists carried the fight for the national team Wednesday in the PSC-POC Philippine National Games Finals here.

Del Prado, son and namesake of the two-time Olympian and former Asian champion, topped the 100-meter run in an unimpressive 10.87 seconds while collegiate hotshot Karen Janario stumbled and didn’t finish the women’s 100m hurdles where she was the favorite.

But the 500-strong national team was way ahead in medal tally with 12 golds, seven silvers and five bronzes. Five of the golds were courtesy of World Poomsae bronze medalist and Southeast Asian Games champions Dustin Mella, Raphael Mella and Rodolfo Reyes.

Host Pangasinan plucked its first gold here through Jhommel Molina and Gyann Garcia in dancesports Grade C Latin.
Cebu City thrived in dancesports held at Sison Auditorium inside the Capitol Complex, winning five golds to place second in the standings with a 9-4-6 tally.

Rounding up the top 10 are Manila (6-0-1), Baguio City (3-1-2), Far Eastern University (2-4-3), Koronadal City (2-2-1), Pampanga (1-4-2), Maasin City (1-2-2), Pangasinan (1-2-2) and Zamboanga City (1-2-2).

Unmatched in grace and form, the Nationals ruled the event held at Lingayen Central School Gym with Dustin Mella topping the senior male event. The Mella brothers and Reyes then copped the senior men’s team top prize. Another PH jin Rinna Babanto also took the gold in senior women’s before she partnered with Reyes for the senior mixed pair gold.