Moving up two rungs from its previous finish two years ago, the 615-strong delegation of the Catanduanes Schools Division Office snatched 9th place in the Modified Palarong Bicol 2023 held April 24-28 in separate venues in Albay and the cities of Legazpi, Ligao, Naga and Tabaco.
The contingent composed of 364 athletes, 122 coaches and 129 officials led by Schools Division Superintendent Socorro dela Rosa garnered a total of nine (9) gold medals, 15 silvers and 17 bronzes.
This is far more than the 1 gold, 8 silvers and 12 bronzes it got in the 2019 regional sports event where it placed 11th out of the 13 divisions.
The delegation secured 9th place in the elementary level, with five (5) golds, eight (8) bronzes and seven (7) silvers, and was 12th in the secondary level with a 4-7-10 medal tally.
SDO Naga City once again reigned as the over-all champion in the regular sports with 76 golds, 58 silvers, and 69 bronze; followed by SDO Camarines Sur with 56 golds, 63 silvers and 68 bronze; SDO Camarines Norte with 46 golds, 32 silvers and 63 bronze; and SDO Ligao with 43 golds, 16 silvers, and 20 bronze.
The island province’s athletes had six (6) golds, five (5) silvers and six (6) bronzes in the Demonstration Sports but came up empty in the Para Games.
In individual and team events for secondary boys, Catanduanes picked up two golds in long jump and boxing, a silver each in 100-meter dash and mushroom gymnastics, three bronzes from taekwondo, and a bronze each in arnis and badminton singles.
In secondary boys team events, its basketball 3×3 team won the championship gold while its baseball and football teams salvaged a silver medal each.
Here’s the rest of the medal haul:
SECONDARY GIRLS: a gold and a silver in speak takraw, two silvers and a bronze in taekwondo, two bronzes in arnis and a bronze each in individual chess blitz and softball.
ELEMENTARY BOYS: two golds in sepak takraw, a gold and a bronze in taekwondo, a gold in basketball, a silver and two bronzes in badminton, a silver in baseball, two bronzes in swimming, and a bronze in football.
ELEMENTARY GIRLS: a gold and a silver in 400-meter dash; a silver each in shot put, swimming (4×100 meter medley relay), volleyball, softball and 100-meter dash, a bronze in badminton mixed doubles,
The gold medalists will advance to the Palarong Pambansa set this July 29 to August 5, 2023 in Marikina City.