By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
CEBU CITY— Girvin and Gwyneth Garcia turned the 1st ASEAN Youth Open Archery Championships into a family affair after capturing gold medals in their respective events on Friday, Aug. 18, at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex here.
The 19-year-old Girvin, who competed in the 2019 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games, blanked University of Baguio Archery Club’s (UBAC) Renian Keith Nawew, 6-0, to rule the men’s recurve under 21 division before his younger sister Gwyneth, 17, squeaked past another UBAC bet in Michiko Gonzales, 137-135, to reign supreme in the women’s compound U18 class.
It was redemption of sorts for Girvin, who lost his spot in the national team while balancing his studies and athletic career.
“Lately I haven’t been performing as much as I want to and this has been a comeback for me,” said Girvin, who graduated high school salutatorian in OB Montessori in Angeles and will be taking up landscape architecture at University of the Philippines.
Prior to his golden feat, Girvin had to endure a nerve-wracking semifinal shootoff with top seed and Olympus Archery Club teammate Jonathan Reaport, 6-5 (9+, 9) in the event supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Cebu City government and the Cebu City Sports Commission.
“The semifinal is the best Olympic round performance I’ve had so far in my career. Knowing that I was able to shoot my best against my opponent, who was also shooting his best… It’s just really satisfying. Definitely a big confidence boost,” said Girvin.
Less than an hour later, 17-year-old Gwyneth shared the spotlight with her brother.
Meanwhile, other recurve winners were Charlene Santos (women’s U21), Lawrence Enecio (men’s U18), Safa Zalfa Hasibuan (women’s U18), Samuel Caleb Surla (men’s U15), Jade Toring (women’s U15), Chinese Taipei’s Li Xiu Fan (men’s U13) and Jiang Yu-Fei (women’s U13),
Compound winners were Alon Jucutan (men’s U18), Zhack Torreon (men’s U21) and Kristine Ibag (women’s U21).
