SWIMMING records fell like the downpour over cloudy skies in the 63rd Palarong Pambansa even as Calabarzon grabbed the overall lead over defending 15-time champion National Capital Region yesterday.
The Southern Tagalog bets put a serious threat on the Big City athletes’ reign after amassing 19 golds, 17 silvers, and 12 bronzes as of 8 p.m. last night in the second day of the Games in Marikina.
Western Visayas also overtook NCR with 17 mints, 15 silvers, and 11 bronzes, with NCR sitting third with a 16-18-15 haul anchored on record-breaking feats by its tankers.
Proving to be one of the stars of the 63rd edition of the Games, Krystal Ava David proved her record gold triumph for NCR in the elementary girls 100-meter breaststroke last Tuesday was no fluke.
The Colegio San Agustin lass clocked 36.1 seconds to rule the 50-meter breaststroke event and shatter Ryssa Gavino’s old mark of 36.63 in Vigan five years ago.
David also bagged the gold in the 200-meter individual medley where she timed 2:37.32 seconds to break the five-year-old meet tally of 2:33.12 set by NCR’s Michaela Jasmine Mojdeh also Vigan in 2018.
Not to be outdone, Bicol Region’s Albert Jose Amaro stamped his mark in the secondary boys 50-meter butterfly with a 26.14-second finish, erasing the 26.34-second record set in 2018 by Calabarzon’s Jules Mirandilla.
Also setting new records were Clara Yzabela delos Santos of the NCR in the secondary girls 50-meter breaststroke, and the NCR secondary girls 200-meter freestyle relay team of Cezar Nazerano, Victoriano Martin Tirol, Jared Magnus Cheng and Arbeen Miguel Thruelen.
Over the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, Karl Eldrew Yulo, the younger brother of gymnastics Olympian Carlos Edriel, wowed the crowd who trooped to the venue despite the stormy weather with his performances in the qualifying events– floor exercise, vault, mushroom, horizontal bar, and individual all-around.
Yulo, 15, is favored to reach the finals of each event set on Friday.
Under the theme “Batang Malakas, Bansang Matatag,” the country’s premier joust for elementary and high school students has drawn 9,172 athletes, coaches, and officials from 17 regions.
Larong lahi was played as an exhibition this year with sports such as kadang-kadang, tumbang preso, and patintero.
The para games, weightlifting, and obstacle course racing were also listed as exhibition sports, while dance sports, pencak silat, and e-sports take center stage as demonstration sports.
NCR is seeking to capture its 16th straight overall title in the Palarong Pambansa after bagging 86 gold, 71 silver, and 56 bronze medals in Davao in 2019.
