TAGUM CITY—The National Capital Region was crowned as the overall champion during the closing ceremony of the 2015 Palarong Pambansa held in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.
For this year, it is the NCRAA’s 11th consecutive year to win the Palarong Pambansa since it joined the school-based national games competition.
The powerhouse National Capital Region’s Athletic Association (NCRAA) has bagged an over-all medal standing of 98 gold, 67 silver and 71 bronze medals, leading a huge margin against other regions as of Saturday afternoon based on the official game tally.
For the Elementary division, the NCRAA obtained 43 gold, 23 silvers and 31 bronze medals while on the Secondary division, it garnered 55 gold, 44 silver and 40 bronze medals, respectively.
In the regular sports for Elementary Boys, it obtained 16 gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze medals while for Elementary girls, the NCRAA has secured 27 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals out of 14 sporting events.
Out of 16 games in the Secondary Level for Boys, 30 gold, 21 silver and 16 bronze medals were snatched by the NCRAA.
In addition, to the 25 gold, 23 silver and 24 bronze medals for the Secondary Level for Girls out of the 14 sports events were obtained accordingly.
In this year’s Palarong Pambansa, the NCRAA holds four new records in Swimming events with Seth Isaac Martin in the Boys Elementary 100 backstroke, clocking a new record of 1:06.38; Sacho Ilustre for Boys Secondary in 200 butterfly, 2:09.00 and in 4X50 Medley Relay for Boys Elementary were Seth Isaac Martin, Charles Johnnuel Arceo, Ian Timothy Go and Sean Gabriel, with a new record time of 2:05.04.
NCRAA’s Ilustre for Boys Secondary in 200 butterfly was a new title holder with a new record time of 2:07.28 for the 2015 Palarong Pambansa.
Karl Ivan Marcelo, one of the sports officials from the NCR delegation, told DavaoToday that the team’s victory was attributed to the hard work and cooperation exerted by the whole team.
“We always won because of the combined strengths and skills of our athletes and the complete cooperation and assistance given by our local governments and DepEd as well,” said Marcelo.
He said that “a rigid sports training of their athletes was consistently done all throughout the year to improve the skills and maintain the momentum of the athletes.”
“Usually their training starts from January to December, and we train them to the best facilities and update the players with the latest game rules,” stressed Marcelo.
“I think it is one factor that our region has always excelled in the Palarong Pambansa,” said Marcelo.
Runners-up for this year’s Palarong Pambansa were Region IV-A’s Southern Tagalog Calabarzon Athletics Association as the first runner up with 51 gold, 41 silver, and 49 bronze medals and Region VI’s Western Visayas Athletics Association as the second runner up with 42 gold, 48 silver and 41 bronze medals, respectively. (davaotoday.com)
