Cebu City—Thriving under pressure, Jonathan Reaport and Ada Lagrada led a record-breaking spree for local archers at the start of the 1st Asean Archery Youth Championships at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex here on Thursday.
Veterans of the world youth meet held last July in Limerick, Ireland, Reaport and Lagrada shot 639 and 613 points, respectively, in setting two of the six new national junior marks to rule the men’s and women’s Under-21 70-meter recurve qualifiers in the meet organized by World Archery Philippines.
Both carrying the colors of Olympus Archery Club, Reaport broke his previous record of 632 set at the world youth tourney while Lagrada surpassed her own mark of 582 in a tournament held last January at the STI Gold Toe archery range in Marikina.
Reaport’s score was just one point short of the minimum Olympic qualifying standard of 640 while Lagrada exceeded the minimum Olympic qualifying standard of 610 in the competition backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Cebu City Sports Commission.
Cebu Archery Club’s Aldener Igot Jr. gave fellow Cebuanos also something to cheer for in topping the men’s under-18 recurve qualifying round in a new mark in shooting 646 points, shattering the old mark of 631 by Lawrence Enecio in the same Marikina tourney last January.
Salt and Arrow Archery Academy’s Naina Tagle also joined record-breaking club in topping the women’s recurve under-18 qualifying round with a tally of 639 point in the competition also backed by FR Sevilla Industrial Corp. owned by WAP chairman Felizardo Sevilla Jr.
The most bemedaled archer in the girls secondary division of the last Palarong Pambansa, Tagle shattered the old mark of Giulana Garcia of 614 also in the same Marikina meet during the tourney also supported by the Cebu City government led by Mayor Mike Rama and Councilor Dondon Hontiveros, who heads the Cebu City council.
In the compound event, University of Baguio Archery Club’s Alon Yuan Jucutan scored 683 points in getting top spot in the men’s under-18 qualifying round, besting his own score of 673 at the Ireland meet.
Rounding out the record-breakers was Olympus Archery Club’s Cassandra Alexei Garcia, whose score of 688 in the women’s under-18 compound qualifiers was superior to her old record of 645 also set at the world youth competition.
“On top of playing on their homecourt, I believe our archers are thriving under positive pressure due to the fact that they are also up against foreign rivals in this tournament,” noted national youth coach Nino Sinco of the outstanding too performance of the local bets.
Taiwanese You Yu-tong was the topnotcher in girls der-13 recurve qualifying round with 686 points while Mansour Alkelbi ruled the boys under-13 qualifiers with 657 points in the tournament also backed by Benel Archery, Postal Science Corp., Tangent and Fair Deal Enterprises.
WAP secretary general Rosendo Sombrio also cited WAP board members, led by president Atty. Clint Aranas, Rep. John Peter Orbeta, Sheree Gotoaco and Boone Ongchoco for their unremitting support of tournament meant to raise the level of play among youth archers in Asia.
The topnotchers in the qualifying rounds in both recurve and compound disciplines earned top seeds in the Olympic round, featuring a knockout format all the way to the finals, scheduled Friday.