Baguio’s dominance in the Batang Pinoy came to a grounding halt as Pasig came out with a masterful performance to end the Pine City’s reign after four straight years.
Pasig tallied 105-64-116 gold-silver-bronze for a total medal count of 285, beating the Highlanders who came in with a 92-72-89 or 253 to finish second for the first time in five years.
The richest local government unit in the country, Quezon City, landed third with a total haul of 167 or 59-55-53, while Mindanao’s jewel, Davao City, landed fourth with 39-44-37 or 120 total, followed by Gen. Santos City with 36-30-40 or 104 and Cebu (35-40-43 or 118).
City Sports Development Officer Gaudencio Gonzles, in a Facebook post, praised the Baguio athletes’ performance because despite not taking home the overall title, the city athletes fared better since “Mas mataas pa ang medal output natin kumpara sa last year (Our medal output is better compared to last year).”
Gonzales said that the city tallied, in their unofficial count, 252 medals on 91 gold, 76 silvers and 85 bronze medals, compared to the 193 total last year on an 82-gold medal finishes and 52 and 59 bronze medals.
While Gonzales praised Baguio’s athletes saying that they gave a good fight from the beginning until the last day, he said Team Pasig outperformed Baguio from the get go.
Gonzales further wrote: “Ano man ang ilabas nilang resulta o pumangalawa man tayo ngayong taon at di makamit ang 5 Peat Overall Championship ay masaya at proud pa rin tayo kasi alam nating lumaban ang Team Baguio hanggang sa huling araw ng laro sa Team Pasig na mula umpisa ay nangunguna na sa ranking (Whatever the result they release that we placed second this year and cannot attain the 5-peat overall championship is we are still happy and proud because we know that Team Baguio gave a good fight until the last day against Team Pasig which led in the ranking from the start).”
Last year, Pasig finished with a total of 187 medals built on 57 gold medals and 56 and 74 silver and bronze medals, respectively. Davao, which finished third, landed 47-50-39 or 136 total.
Compared this year where Pasig simply outperformed all other LGUs with an eye popping 105 gold medals alone or nearly twice what it recorded last year. It also earned more silver and significantly higher bronze medal output. The total of 285 is 52 percent more than last year.
Baguio got most of the medals from combat sports, reported Gonzales. In their unofficial tally, wushu had the most output with 18-7-8, followed by muay Thai (13-11-9), taekwondo (10-4-8), judo (6-9-9) and kurash (6-4-2).
Other contributors in martial arts are: kickboxing (5-1-5), jiu jitsu (3-3-7), wrestling (2-2-3), pencak silat (1-1-9) and arnis (1-1-3). The city earned a silver and a bronze in boxing and a bronze medal in karate also.
Overall, Team Archery has the second most bemedaled team with 14-8-6. Teams breaking, chess and cycling contributed well also, with 3-2-0, 2-4-7 and 2-0-1, in that order.
