MANILA, 4 October — The Philippines, bannered by Bacolod City’s Kaye P. Cabalatungan, topped the women’s division of the 13th World Shoot Championship held in Petersburg, South Africa, last Sept. 16-21.
Cabalatungan, who saw action in her first international competition, also emerged as the women’s individual champion in the grueling 35-stage, five-day shootfest.
Two other Filipinas, Athena Lee of Cagayan de Oro and Manila-based Grace Tan, placed second and fourth, respectively, in the race for individual honors. Combined with Cabalatungan’s first place finish, this enabled the Philippines to clinch the team championship trophy.
Host South Africa captured second place while the United States clinched third spot in the team competition. Other countries represented in the tournament included Russia, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Ecuador.
Amanda Kangleon of Ormoc City rounded out the four-woman Philippine entry to the practical shooting championship wherein 54 countries participated. The 21-year old Cabalatungan, a consistent national tournament champion is the winner of the National Steel Challenge Championship held in Marikina recently. She has been a member of the Philippine practical shooting team for the past two years.
The World Shoot Championship is the premier event of the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) founded in 1976 to develop practical marksmanship as a sport promoting accuracy, power and speed into a winning combination as competitors shoot various targets in different shooting stages or environments.
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FEU wins volleyball crown
Far Eastern University spent some moments in the wringer but prevailed anyway over University of Santo Tomas to sweep the eliminations and automatically retain the women’s volleyball crown of the 65th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
FEU needed 79 minutes and a lot of regrouping in the four-set win that gifted the Lady Tamaraws their fourth straight championship, 25-19, 20-25, 25-12, 26-24.
That victory by coach Evangeline de Jesus’ wards at the University of the Philippines’ College of Human Kinetics gym Sunday also underscored FEU’s domination of the sport that was played in all of the UAAP’s 65 seasons.
The Lady Tamaraws have snatched 27 titles overall, including three they shared with two other schools, to remain the winningest team in the league in women’s volleyball.
De La Salle wrapped up its campaign with an 83-minute 25-17, 24-26, 25-19, 25-18, conquest of tournament host UP, pushing the Lady Maroons to fourth place at 8-6.
University of the East wound up fifth, is fifth victory also in 14 coming at the expense of Ateneo, 29-27, 23-25, 25-16, 25-11, while Adamson was sixth at 4-10 after beating National University, 25-18, 25-17, 25-14. The Lady Falcons closed the season with 4-10, a record better than seventh-placer Ateneo’s 3-11 and cellar-dweller NU’s 0-14.
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Filipino archers to take part in world games
For the first time ever, a Philippine archery team will compete in the prestigious 2002 World Masters Games slated Oct. 5-13 in Melbourne, Australia.
Composed of recurve and compound archers, the team will be led by Gen. Jose Marlowe S. Pedregosa. The other members are Raul Ramon O. Arambulo, Adam Jimenez and Dr. Juan Ma. Pablo Nanagas, the lone participant in the recurve event.
Held every four years, the World Masters Games will feature 26 sports disciplines. The event is considered the biggest multi-sport festival on earth. Around 20,000 are expected to gather in Melbourne and participate in the international celebration of the “Sports for Life”. The Filipinos, who are scheduled to depart on Oct. 4, will compete in the indoor and target events where entries are classified according to age - 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70.
Indoor action is set on Oct. 7 at the Werribee Sports and Fitness Center, while the target outdoor round will be held on Oct. 8 and 9 at Chirnside ground Werribee Park National Equestrian Center.
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GMA gives incentives to sports heroes
President Arroyo honored past sports heroes on a day she called on the sporting community to start building a stronger foundation for the future of Philippine sports as she gave members of the RP contingent a final boost before they leave for the 14th Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea.
The Chief Executive, represented by Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Eric Buhain, released the second and last part of the Athletes Incentives Act (R.A. 9064) to 28 retired athletes, whose past exploits are being emulated by the new batch of athletes doing battle in the Sept. 29-Oct. 14 games.
The retired athletes, including former athletics great Mona Sulaiman and Lydia de Vega-Mercado and boxing champions Anthony Villanueva and brothers Roel and Mansueto Velasco, received their checks from Buhain at the end of the 17-day nationwide torch relay at the Quirino Grandstand.
