PUERTO PRINCESA. — Few expected big things from Puerto Princesa in the boys’ futsal tournament of the Batang Pinoy National Championships, considering it was a makeshift squad of footballers just formed barely a month ago.
But with Bethel Senior High School mentor Tony Austria whipping them into fine form and relying on the brilliant offensive play of John Kenneth Eclevia, the hosts upended favored Negros Occidental 3-1 Thursday to capture the boys’ Under-17 futsal crown at the Ramon V. Mitra Jr. Sports Complex gym here.
Eclevia ran rings around his defenders, scoring a hat trick in the first half as the hosts completed a seven-game sweep of the tournament for their first futsal plum in the meet organized by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Negros Occidental, which drew 2-2 with Puerto Princesa in their preliminary clash, had its one goal scored by Gian Tzaddi Bacomo in the 16th minute and settled for runner-up honors.
PH Under-17 squad members Ushin Joi Valencia and Jelena Loren Soon scored a goal each for Cebu City in the seventh and 20th minutes, respectively, to blank Davao del Oro 2-0 and bag the girls Under-17 girls futsal title in the games supported by the Puerto Princesa City government led by Mayor Lucilo Bayron.
Pangasinan swamped Bago City 4-1 while Olongapo City outplayed San Carlos City 3-1 to clinch the boys’ and girls’ Under-15 futsal championships.
“We were actually surprised in winning the championship since all of them are football players it was only in late October that we began practicing as a team,” noted Austria, smiling. “We would have not won this title if it was not played here.”
“Puerto Princesa was the better and hungrier team today. They outplayed us so give them credit. You win some and you lose some,” said Negros Occidental assistant coach Robel Ramos.
Futsal tournament director Allan Ramirez, a technical official of the Philippine Football Federation, noted that the overall play of the close to 100 squads from all over the country was quite promising.
Over at the RVM pool, Arveen Naeem Taguinota II capped his successful campaign by leading Pasig to victory in the boys’ 12 to 13-year-old 4×50-meter relay in two minutes and .03.67 seconds.
The prolific swimmer picked up his sixth gold medal, counting the four individual golds he won earlier, to go along with a silver medal and emerged as the most outstanding swimmer in the 16th edition of the competition.
Taguinota’s superb outing underscored the dominance of the Pasig tankers, who amassed 11 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze medals in securing the overall title in the sport.
Quezon City was a close second (10-14-7), San Fernando, La Union was third (7-4-1), Pampanga fourth (6-3-4) and Taguig fifth (5-2-4).
In badminton, Mandaue City picked up a pair of golds in the 12 to 14-year-old boys and girls and doubles events.
