MANILA — The National Capital Region leads the official medal count after the first official day of competition at the ongoing 63rd Palarong Pambansa in Marikina City.
NCR collected four golds, six silvers, and three bronze medals after the first day of competitions. Region 4A followed with a 4-6-2 haul, and Region 11 was in third with four golds and two silvers.
Events in athletics pushed through despite the bad weather, with Joshua Patorara of Region 6 winning in the secondary long jump finals.
In the javelin throw elementary girls finals, Baby Jane Santos of Region 2 bagged the gold medal, beating Region 9’s Julie Ann Curator Cruz (silver) and Jeanne Epino of Region 5 (bronze).
In the javelin throw finals secondary girls division, Ana Bhianca Espenilla of Region 5 took the top spot for a gold medal finish.
The boxing competition also started with matches being held at the plaza outside the Marikina City hall.
The volleyball competition is also underway, with the NU Nazareth representing NCR facing off against Region 3 represented by the Holy Family Academy. NCR beat Central Luzon, 25-13, 25-17.
The football and softball games were moved to a different venue because the fields were unplayable due to the inclement weather.
DepEd Asec for Operation Cesar Bringas said they noted some injuries during the games particularly in the oval track wherein athletes complained about the slippery conditions.
We still have to look into the veracity of the news na that is due to the slippery oval if ever that is going to be true we will let the city government know about it so that even the tournament directors para ma correct nila adjustments what needs to be done. At gaya ng sinabi, yung ating mga hospitalization due to injuries for this Palarong Pambansa will be completely shouldered by the city government of Marikina city,” Bringas said.
Some athletes also got sick after the heavy downpour during the Parade of Delegates, causing a few to miss games today.
