Bontoc stude national champ in lawn tennis

SPORTS 

TAGUM CITY, Davao Oriental --  For the first time in the history of lawn tennis for the Cordillera, a young lady from Bontoc, Mountain Province bagged the first place in  lawn tennis event- elementary bracket, female division. 

Geanlijah Ros ‘Gia’ Lapon Sagandoy representing Cordillera, student/ alumna of the Saint Vincent Elementary School emerged national champion in recently held Palarong Pambansa  beating the defending champion from the Western Visayas region and National Capital region who landed third place. 

Gia as she is fondly called by her friends is the daughter of Genevieve Lapon and Robert Sagandoy.

She graduated from SVES last March 2015 as the 3rd honorable mention of her class. 

When asked how she made her way to become the national champion Sagandoy simply said its divine providence. I kept praying every night.”

“This is the price of hard work on the part of Gia,” said her mother.

Her parents had been sending her to Manila every summer vacation for her training.

She was also a consistent winner in tournaments held in Manila by the Philippine Tennis Association including the Toby’s Wilson Age Group Tennis Challenge.

Meanwhile, the other medalists from Bontoc who also joined the Palarong Pambansa are: Kathleen April Comafay, Bronze, Arnis; Quint AbejahAmongan, Pin Weight, Archery, Gold-50 meters, Silver-30 meters, Silver-40 meters, Silver-FITA Round , Bronze-Mixed Team Event; and Ike Fuman-eg, Silver-Wushu.  -- PaoDepalogTumapang

Cordillera finishes 4^th in Palarong Pambansa 2015

BAGUIO CITY -- The Cordillera Administrative Region finished fourth overall among the 17 regions in the recently concluded Palarong Pambansa 2015 held in Tagum City, Davao Del Norte.

Inspired and determined  athletes  brought home 24 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze medals in national games participated by elementary and high school contingents from May 3 to May 9.

The National Capital Region retained the overall championship with 98 gold, 67 silvers and 71 bronze.

Southern Tagalog (Region IV)  finished second with a 51-41-49 medal tally and Western Visayas Region (6) was third with 42-48-41

Dept. of Education - Cordillera Regional(DepEd – CAR) information officer Georaloy Palo-ay  said  the  Cordillera athletes excelled in archery where CAR  got over-all title for girls, arnis, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu events,  chess and lawn tennis.

This is something that we are proud of because our athletes really competed hard, he said.

DepEd –CAR director Dr. Ellen Donato lauded athletes for performance not only in terms of getting medals but showing that they are disciplined athletes and contingents.

Cordillera was given a citation for being the most disciplined contingent.

Before the competition, local coaches were worried that the lack of preparations and absence of a proper training venue  would  hinder athletes from winning medals in Palarong Pambansa  against better trained and prepared athletes from more progressive  regions.

For many of the more than 700 Cordillera delegates, it was their first time to  ride a plane in   going to the venue of the games, Donato said. – MelvicCawis