WALKATHONER Lyka Labrica Catubig and swimmer Rafael Barreto made their presence felt yesterday by emerging triumphant in the first full day of action in the Philippine National Games.
Catubig woke up at 3 o’clock to leave from her quarters in Manila to make certain that she would not miss the first track event at 6:30 a.m. at the Philsports track oval in Pasig City.
Her diligence paid off handsomely as she emerged virtually uncontested in ruling the women’s Under-20 3-kilometer walk event in 16 minutes and 44.55 seconds.
Pasig’s Laurize Jeante Wangkay finished a distant second (16:51.98) while Pangasinan province’s Jane Krizzel Buizon took the bronze (16:52.35) in the sportsfest organized by the Philippine Sports Commission marking its return after four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The host city picked up a pair of mints from Justin Santos Macuring in the men’s U20 3-kilometer walk (14:52.57) and Ainah Marie Agapito Masangkay, who topped the women’s open discus throw with a heave of 36.36 meters.
Barreto, who was dropped from the national team last year, topped the men’s 200-meter individual medley in a personal best of 2:09.94 before adding the gold in the men’s 100-meter freestyle in 52.07 seconds.
“I didn’t expect to win pero talagang pinaghandaan ko po ito kaya tuwang-tuwa ako sa pagkapanalo ng unang gold sa PNG,” Catubig said of her triumph in her maiden PNG outing after taking the bronze in the 2-kilometer walk in the 2019 Palarong Pambansa.
“Mahirap mag-train as an athlete habang nag-aaral but as long as you are dedicated and train hard, malalampasan po ang mga challenges,” added the 19-year-old University of Mindanao BS Criminology freshman.
She is also competing in the 5,000-kilometer run tomorrow and the 5,000-kilometer walk on Thursday.
The most bemedalled swimmer with seven gold medals in the 2015 Batang Pinoy Nationals in Cebu City, Barreto, a native of Malolos, emerged as the PNG’s first double gold medalist.
The younger brother of fellow national swimmer Rafael Barreto, the lanky athlete is also entered in the 400-meter freestyle on Thursday and the 200-meter freestyle and 50-meter breaststroke on the last day of the meet on Friday.
Joining the list of gold medalists in athletics was San Fernando, Pampanga’s Marvin Perez Ramos, who topped the men’s U20 long jump in with a leap of 6.34 meters.
Mandaluyong City’s Jinzy Morga Passion topped the women’s 18-and-over women’s 200-meter IM while Davao City’s Francis Greg Espiritu topped the boys 200-meter breaststroke event (2:25.72).
