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NCR extends reign in Palaro to 16: Here’s where they got most of their medals

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Karl Cedrick Basco, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Karl Eldrew Yulo, brother of Olympic gymnast Carlos Yulo, performs during the men" s="" artistic="" gymnastics="" event="" at="" the="" Palarong="" Pambansa="" in="" Manila="" on="" August="" Mark="" ABS-CBN="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/08/03/20230803-yulo.jpg"/><figcaption>Karl Eldrew Yulo, brother of Olympic gymnast Carlos Yulo, performs during the men&#x27;s artistic gymnastics event at the 2023 Palarong Pambansa in Manila on August 2, 2023. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA – They were threatened in the first three days but, in the end, the Palarong Pambansa crown will remain in the Big City. </p><p>The National Capital Region banked on the two of the medal-rich sports in the DepEd-sanctioned contest that catapulted them once again as the best region of the Palarong Pambansa after clinching their 16th straight overall title in Marikina City, Saturday.</p><p>After a week-long competition, the host region harvested 85 gold medals alongside 74 silver and 55 bronze chips to overtake the second-running Western Visayas, which hauled 60-45-44 medal collection. </p><p>Metro Manila leaned on their mighty gymnasts led by Karl Jahrel Eldrew Yulo, the brother of two-time world champion Carlos Yulo, to rule the Palarong Pambansa 2023, pocketing a whopping 33 gold medals in the sport alone.</p><p>These numbers were way more than the total top podium finishes of the overall fourth placer Central Luzon – which took home 28 golds across all sports, both in elementary and secondary. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/08/06/palarong-pambansa.jpg" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/08/06/palarong-pambansa.jpg"/></figure></div><p>At the forefront of NCR’s rampage on the mat was Yulo, who swept all the six events in the men’s artistic gymnastics secondary. </p><p>The 15-year-old protégé captured the gold in the individual all-around, vault, pommel horse, floor exercise, horizontal bar, and the team event, en route to hiking his personal medal haul to 20 golds and two bronzes in just four Palaro appearances. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/03/23/palaro-2023-yulo-shines-4a-steals-overall-lead-on-day-3">Palaro 2023: Yulo shines, 4A steals overall lead on Day 3</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/02/23/palaro-2023-eldrew-yulo-stamps-class-in-gymnastics">Palaro 2023: Eldrew Yulo stamps class in gymnastics</a></li></ul><p>The Big City also got a huge boost from their swimmers, who amassed 17 gold, 18 silver, and 16 bronzes in the pool events. However, they were not as dominant as they had been in 2019, when their tankers claimed a mammoth 35 gold chips in swimming. </p><p>Mishka Sy of Chiang Kai Shek College powered the NCR swimmers with four golds and two silvers. </p><p>Combining the swimming and gymnastics, NCR already established a 50-41-35 medal haul – two gold shy of trying the overall third placer Region IV-A Calabarzon, which finished the Games with 52 top podiums. </p><p>Despite the overwhelming performance in the two sports, NCR campaign also suffered some blows after they squandered their titles in ball games to Visayan teams. </p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu wins the basketball finals of the Palarong Pambansa at the Marikina Sports Center in Marikina City on August 5, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/08/06/20230805-palarong-pambansa-bball-finals-mt-10-(1).jpg"/><figcaption>Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu wins the basketball finals of the Palarong Pambansa at the Marikina Sports Center in Marikina City on August 5, 2023. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>A perennial champion in secondary basketball boys and volleyball girls, Metro Manila saw their reign ending in both events after a massive comebacks of their opponents in the gold medal match.</p><p>Backed by Nazareth School of National University (NSNU), NCR blew a 6-0 start in the fifth set of girls volleyball finals to surrender to eventual champions Western Visayas, represented by Bacolod Tay Tung High School. </p><p>In the final day of Palaro, NSNU also could not defend their Palaro title in basketball boys as Jared Bahay of Central Visayas rallied his squad back from a nine-point deficit entering the fourth period to win 77-73 in the gold-medal match – highlighted by his game-winning and cold-blooded long-two basket. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/05/23/palaro-2023-region-6-takes-girls-volleyball-gold-ncr-regains-overall-lead">Palaro 2023: Region 6 takes girls volleyball gold; NCR regains overall lead</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/04/23/palaro-23-region-6-ends-ncr-reign-in-girls-volleyball">Palaro 2023: Western Visayas ends NCR reign in girls volleyball</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/05/23/jared-bahay-carries-r7-over-ncr-for-basketball-gold">Palaro 2023: Jared Bahay lifts Central Visayas to basketball gold, dethrones NCR</a></li></ul><div><strong>Western Visayas climbs to no. 2, dominates athletics</strong></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Youth athletes compete in the track events during the 2023 Palarong Pambansa in Marikina City on August 2, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/08/06/20230802-palaro-pambansa-track-2md_9387-md-(1)-(1).jpg"/><figcaption>Youth athletes compete in the track events during the 2023 Palarong Pambansa in Marikina City on August 2, 2023. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Region VI also had a solid performance in the Marikina Games after improving to the second spot of the overall tally with 60-45-44, better than their 49-40-58 medal haul in Davao City in 2019. </p><p>Western Visayas milked the other medal-rich sport track and field, collecting an impressive 24-10-12 tally after four days of competition at the Marikina Sports Center.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/04/23/palaro-2023-athletics-dominance-push-region-6-to-lead-after-day-4">Palaro 2023: Athletics dominance push Region 6 to lead after Day 4</a></li></ul><p>Mico Villaran led Region 6 with four gold medals, including the two hurdles categories. Villaran topped the 110m hurdles in the secondary boys before winning the 400m hurdles the next day.</p><p>He also emerged victorious in the 200-meter dash after beating Renier Jay Ranges via photo finish and was part of the golden quarter of the West V in the 4x100m relay. </p><p>Airex Gabriel Villanueva also made a mark for Region 6 as he copped the gold in the shot put and discus throw – including a record-breaking show. Villanueva erased the discus throw records in Palaro when hit the 42.86-meter mark – above the 42.67m set by Ed Deliña in 2018. </p><p>Western Visayas swept the 200m run of the tournaments as Villaran (secondary boys), Krisha Aguillon (secondary girls), John Mark Pagdato (elementary boys), and Ma. Jerlyn Ariego (elementary girls) winning their respective events. </p><p>Aguillon also nabbed the gold in the centerpiece 100-meter dash to be considered as the fastest woman in the Palaro 2023. </p><p>Meanwhile, Calabarzon took most of their gold medals in the swimming events too, fishing 12-20-13 gold-silver-bronze outputs. </p><div><strong>Davao region improves to 6th spot, SOCCSKSARGEN slides to 8th</strong></div><p>Davao Region bounced back from an 11th-place finish back when they hosted the Palaro in 2019 as they pocketed 21 gold medals this time – eight more compared to their last showing. Davao amassed 21-18-27 in the games to reach the sixth place in the overall tally. </p><p>Meanwhile, Region 12 or the SOCCSKSARGEN fell four places below this year after their impressive fourth-placed ranking in the 2019 edition. </p><p>From 26 gold medals in Davao, the region only had 17 in Marikina to slide down to 8th place out of 17 regions. </p><p>Central Visayas, on the other hand, paraded an archery superstar as Naina Dominique Tagle lorded the secondary girls division with six gold medals and a silver – making her the most bemedaled athlete of the Palaro 2023. </p><p>In her archery domination, Tagle registered a record-breaking performance in the 60-meter event after tallying 327 points – enough to establish a new record.</p><p>She also ruled the 30 meters, 50 meters, Single FITA Round, Individual Olympic Round, and the Team Olympic Round. Tagle fell short of sweeping all of her events, though, when she ended second in the 70 meter. </p><p>Rounding up the top five overall winners were the Central Luzon Region (28-23-46), which saw their secondary boys volleyball team winning the gold over the Central Visayas, and Central Visayas (26-18-35), which toppled down the favorite NCR in basketball. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/06/23/marikina-mayor-bats-for-sustainable-grassroots-sports-programs">After hosting Palaro, Marikina mayor bats for sustainable grassroots sports programs</a></li></ul><p>RELATED VIDEO</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2737348" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div> </div>

The National Capital Region banked on the medal-rich sports that catapulted them once again as the best region of the Palarong Pambansa. 

NCR extends reign in Palaro to 16: Here’s where they got most of their medals

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NCR extends reign in Palaro to 16: Here’s where they got most of their medals

Karl Cedrick Basco,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 06, 2023 03:45 PM PHT

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