LAGAWE, Ifugao Province—The boys of Lagawe Central School pulled hard and quick to win the first gold medal in the two-day Gender and Development Indigenous Games here.
Their coach, Chrisopher Narciso, told the 10-member squad to give it a quick pull, and they did.
This earned LCS the elementary boys’ crown of the guyyudan, or tug-of-war competitions when it was over at the grassy grounds of the Provincial Capitol Plaza.
In doing so, the Honnie Dumanalam-skippered team needed to pull of a 2-game sweep of their best-of-three finals’ showdown with Burnay Elementary School.
“This game is naturally played by the Ifugao. In the end, it became a battle of strength,” said Narciso.
Later, Don Bosco High School claimed the secondary girls’ honors of the guyyudan when they won over Lagawe National High School, 2-1.
In their struggle to reach the finals, Lagawe CS first got past Boliwong Elementary School, 2-0, at the start of the single-round eliminations.
Then, they overcame a stronger Tungngod side, 2-0, in their second encounter.
The boys of Tungngod earned the right to face Lagawe CS after first hurdling Caba ES and Cudog ES.
Tungngod eventually placed third with its 0-2 setback to Lagawe CS.
“Ninenerbiyos kami nu’ng umpisa. Pero nawala na nu’ng nagsimula na ang laban,” Dumanalam, a sixth grader, and a member of the Tuwali tribe.
In all of their matches, they relied on the heavy-built Jose Punadwan to be the anchor by throwing all of his weight while staying at the back.
They were also supported by schoolmates Yashiv Binwag, Christian Bulahao, Denver Diaz, Steve Tanggay, Austin Manghi, Jaylord Kimayong, Miles Malagda and Zoilo Salazar.
This earned the boys of Lagawe the top purse of P7,000, while the kids of Burnay took home P5,000.
Commissioner Celia Kiram said in her opening speech that kids need to be involved in sports that speak of their identity.
“This program is part of a bigger Indigenous Games that we are planning to have in the Cordillera Region,” said Kiram.
Kiram, Charles Maxey and Philippine Sports Institute assistant director Henry Daut graced the opening ceremonies with Municipal administrator Gerardo Pawingi and provincial administrator Albert Pawingi.