20 Cordillera athletes PSA top awardees for SEAG, MMA wins

GOLD RUSH. Some of the Baguio Cordillera athletes who won medals in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games were part of Team Philippines named Athlete of the Year in the Philippine Sportswriters Association sports awards on March 6 at the Manila Hotel. In photo are Estie Gay Liwanen of kurash (front, 3rd from left), dancesport’s Stephanie Sabalo (4th from left), amateur boxer of the year Nesthie Petecio (5th from left), Gina Iniong of kickboxing (rightmost) and Jean Claude Saclag (3rd from right). (PNA photo by Pigeon Lobien)

By Pigeon Lobien  

BAGUIO CITY – A total of 20 athletes who won gold medals in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) and a professional fighter joined the sports awards hosted by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) at the Manila Hotel on Friday, March 6.

Sambo gold medal winner Mark Striegl earlier said he was attending which was echoed by double gold medalist Stephanie Sabalo of dancesport.

The annual awards hosted by the oldest sportswriters’ group in the country will honor the athletes that brought home 149 gold medals, 20 of them from Baguio and the Cordillera in probably the biggest single award given by the body.

“I might join my fellow arnis players,” said 19-year-old Abegail Abad earlier, winner in arnis padded stick in the welterweight division along with University of Baguio (UB) schoolmate Elmer Manlapas (men’s padded stick 55-60 kilogram division).

The event presented by San Miguel Corporation, Milo and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) at the Centennial Hall of the hotel honored “the heroes and heroines that made 2019 a historic year for sports.”

Team Philippines was Athlete of the Year awardee along with Efren Reyes, the lifetime achievement awardee as well as gymnast Carlos Yulo received the President’s Award from PSA president Tito Talao of Manila Bulletin.

Boxer Nesthy Petecio of UB’s School of International Tourism and Hotel Management were one of major awardees for winning the gold in the (Amateur) International Boxing Association in October last year as well as a gold medal in the SEAG.

Other gold medalists from Baguio and the Cordilleras were Crisamuel Delfin (men’s an open weapon non-traditional), boxers Josie Gabuco and Carlo Paalam also from UB, Kenneth Jiane Villa for esports, kickboxers Gina Iniong, Jerry Olsim and Jean Claude Saclag, Estie Gay Liwanen for kurash, muay Thai’s Jearome Calica and Ariel Lim Lampacan, Sandi Menchi Abahan for obstacle course running, Kurt Bryan Barbosa for taekwondo kroyugi and Jeordan Dominguez for taekwondo poomsae, wrestler Jason Baucas, and wushu sanda’s Divine Wally.

Gabuco was also cited for her achievements in amateur boxing, while Team Lakay’s Joshua Pacio will get a citation for mixed martial arts after successfully defending his ONE strawweight title in October last year.

               Other Team Lakay members in the PSA awards were Iniong, who won in the undercard of Pacio’s title defense last Jan. 30, Olsim, and Saclag.

The gold medalists were the main awardees during the annual sports awards here Dec. 30 last year and they were also recognized by the city government during the second sports summit last January 31.

On March 22, during the opening of the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association meet, the athletes will be honored by the Dept. of Education-Cordillera to serve as inspiration for the close to 7,000 athletes from the six provinces and two city members of the multi-sport event. (PNA)