ILOILO City – John Romel Baria and J. Allan Noel Gayoso clinched the gold medal in the doubles table tennis event of the Iloilo Table Tennis Open held recently at the Iloilo Sports Complex Gymnasium.
The Central Philippine University Golden Lions standouts defeated the tandem of fellow Ilonggos Jason Delariarte and Carl Abulocion in the finals.
Baria and Gayoso’s Golden Lions teammates Ashley Vicencio and Nicole Oliva, meanwhile, settled for a bronze medal finish.
The champion, first runner up and second runner up received P8,000, P4,000 and P2,000 cash prize, respectively, apart from medals and certificates of recognition.
Baria, meanwhile, could not score a golden double in the tournament organized by the Province of Iloilo after bowing to San Beda University’s Alexis Bolante in the finals of the men’s table tennis singles.
Bolante, a former NCAA men’s table tennis standout, leaned on his experience to defeat Baria in just three sets in their gold medal match.
On their way to the championship round, Bolante defeated Hilton Solis in the semifinals, while Baria outdueled Joseph dela Cruz in the other Final Four encounter.
In tennis, Dumaguete’s Karl Mark Gayo and Reyniel Marcellana captured the men’s doubles gold medal by beating Bacolod City’s Fern Alekzander Po and Fernando Caesar Po in the finals.
Gayo and Marcallena were struggling with their shots early in the game but managed to get their rhythm in time to send the match to a tiebreaker where they took the game at 8-7.
According to acting Provincial Administrator Dennis Ventilacion, around 500 fully vaccinated athletes in the country had registered in the week-long open table tennis, tennis and badminton tournaments.
“We are happy to see many athletes participated. I also want to remind other Ilonggo athletes to get vaccinated so they can go back playing sports,” Ventilacion said./PN
