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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Cells endures bum stomach to win gold

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CEBU City—Karen Cells bucked an upset stomach and, led two other members of the national taekwondo team in posting big wins yesterday in Kiyorugi (sparring) finals of the Philippine National Games at the SM Seaside Mall here.

Suffering from stomach pain before the match, Cells mustered enough willpower to outpoint Baguio City bet Mary Ceniza Quiambao, 19-6, in the flyweight finals.

 “Problema iyung tiyan ko. Sobrang hapdi, tapos sobrang pinipiga na di ko maintindihan. Ayun, pinilit ko iyung first match point. Hindi ko na sinabi sa coach ko, kasi ayaw ko siyang magalala,”said Cells, who admitted eating too much shellfish at dinner the other night.

National teammates Christian de la Cruz and Keybert Lumbanian prevailed over their rivals in the men’s division, with de la Cruz asserting himself with a 24-10 triumph over Kristian Tagarao of Cebu Province.

Lumbanian, a varsity player at San Beda University, prevailed over Agusan del Sur’s Elmer Cena, 14-8.

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For Cells, who is an assistant coach at University of the East, this is her first title win after moving up from the finweight division, and since her weight category is not in the Asian Games.

With stomach pain bothering her, Cells fell behind on points after Quiambao went on the offensive in the first round.

She wrested the lead in the second round with a roundhouse kick and an axe kick to the body.

De la Cruz, a coach at University of Santo Tomas, focused on the accuracy of his push kicks in beating Tagarao. Lumbanian relied on stamina to outlast Cena.

So far, Cebu City leads the overall medal race with 33 golds, 46 silvers and 48 bronzes while Baguio City is in second with a 24-27-29 gold-silver-bronze collection.

Mandaluyong City is in third (20-11-12), followed by General Santos City (16-22-25) and Zamboanga City(13-5-11).

In cycling, another Asian Games-bound bet Marella Salamat wrapped up her campaign with three gold medals in the cycling competition at Barangay Taboc in Danao City.

Salamat, the 24-year-old former Southeast Asian Games champion ended an impressive campaign when she ruled women’s elite criterium event of this multi-sport tourney organized and bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and with with the support of Smart and STI.

 She took three sprint laps to emerge with 20 points while Avegail Rombaon of Iriga City and Marianne Dacumos of Paranaque City, who finished with 11 and four points to settle for the silver and bronze medal, respectively.

 “I think I’m already around 80 percent in my preparation,” she said. “I’m already satisfied with my performance on flat road so I just need to work on my climb because that’s where the action is. I need to be prepared with what Indonesia has to offer.”

 Upsets shook the fourth day as national team members, grandmaster Janelle Frayna and crashed in chess and archery.

 Women international master Catherine Secopito of Bulacan and Kareel Meer Hongitan of Baguio City stole the thunder in their respective events.

Secopito shared points with women FIDE master Michelle Yaon of Calamba City in the seventh and final round to register a total of six points with five wins and two draws to deliver the first gold medal of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan in the women’s division standard chess at Robinson’s Galleria here.

Frayna overcame women international master Mikee Charlene Suede of Dasmarinas City in her final match, to gain 5.5 points and settle for the silver medal.

In archery, Kareel Meer Hongitan of Baguio City also posted impressive victory as she pulled off a massive off Youth Olympic Games-bound Nicole Marie Tagle of Dumaguete City in the recurve women’s senior 72 arrow

In the men’s chess division, grandmaster John Paul Gomez of Albay claimed the gold after pulling the rug from under international master Paulo Bersamina of Tandag City in the sixth round.

Hongitan took the gold medal after tallying 628 points while Tagle fell short with only 617 points.

Olympian Mark Javier of Dumaguete City also made his presence felt as he scored 638 points to grab the gold while Florante Matan and Luis Gabriel Moreno tallied 631 and 627 points to settle for the silver and bronze medal, respectively, in the men’s senior 72 arrows. 

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