By CALVIN CORDOVA
CEBU CITY — The track oval of the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) is indeed substandard.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Edward Hayco disclosed that the measurement validation conducted by Mendel Surveying Solutions Co. on Sunday, July 14, showed that the oval is short by 1.5 meters – not 2 meters as reported last week – after is just measured 398.5 meters instead of the standard 400.
Hayco said that per Jeanette Obiena, technical consultant of the Palarong Pambansa, the first surveyor concluded that the oval conformed to specifications.
But the revalidation of the second surveyor showed that the radius of the white lines were short by 30 centimeters.
Being short by 30 centimeters means the lines drawn were short by 1.5 meters.
The PSC tapped a third party to revalidate the oval’s measurement after it was announced that it only measured 398 meters.
Because of the oval being substandard, no Palaro records will be recognized.
Trackster Mico Villaran of Western Visayas had set a record in the 110-meter hurdles but the feat is in danger of being nullified due to the substandard oval.
Meanwhile, the National Capital Region (NCR) has pulled away from the rest of the field with only a few games left in the final day of competition on Monday, July 15.
As of 3 p.m. on Monday, the Big City was comfortably ahead in the medal tally with 70 gold, 55 silver, and 62 bronze medals followed by Region 4-A (50-32-44), Region 6 (46-30-32), Region 11 (27-24-27), and host region Central Visayas (25-37-31).
A skirmish marred championship match in the secondary boys basketball that saw NCR tripped Central Luzon, 86-71, for the gold.
Punches were thrown at the 7:13 mark of the second quarter that led to the ejections of four players, three from Central Luzon and one from NCR.
Timothy Matias led NCR’s win with 19 points and copped the Most Valuable Player award.
NCR also got a huge lift from Elaiza Andriel Yulo who stamped her class by snatching three gold medals in the artistic gymnastics at the Cebu Institute of Technology-University gym on Sunday.
The sister of Paris Olympics-bound Carlos Yulo and Karl Jahrel Eldrew Yulo, also a top gymnast, ruled the uneven bars event with a score 0f 9.850.
Elaiza also ruled the balance beam event with 12.050. She completed a golden treble by dominating the Floor Exercise competition with 10.900. Elaiza’s teammate Cielo Esliza actually also logged the same score to win the gold in an event that ended in double gold.
Tallula Adrienne Rose Nadres of Central Luzon snatched the bronze with 9.850.
Nadres denied Elaiza a fourth gold after she ruled the Vault Event with 11.775. Elaiza settled for silver with 11.650.
