VIGAN, Ilocos Sur — The National Capital Region (NCR) locked its 14th consecutive overall championship in the recent Palarong Pambansa.
The NCR won 100 golds, 70 silvers, and 50 bronzes. It was way ahead of Calabarzon, which overtook Western Visayas in second place with 55 golds, 50 silvers, and 73 bronzes.
Western Visayas fell to third with 46 golds, 45 silvers, and 55 bronzes, while Central Visayas came in fourth with 26 golds, 25 silvers, and 36 bronzes.
Cordillera region is in the fifth place 25 golds, 22 silvers, and 23 bronzes.
Mica de Guzman survived a three-set classic against Chuchi Alvarez to give the NC the final gold medal of the 2018 Palarong Pambansa on Saturday.
The St. Paul Pasig shuttler recovered from blowing an early Set 3 lead to defeat the Pila native, 21-16, 11-21, 24-22, in the secondary girls’ badminton singles finals at the Vigan City Convention Center.
De Guzman actually rallied back from 10-15 down in Set 1 to take the match lead only to lose steam down the stretch in Set 2 as Alvarez forced the deciding set.
Banking on back-to-back aces early on, de Guzman raced to an 11-3 advantage in the final set. But Alvarez slowly came back and even drew close to stealing the win after taking a 20-19 lead.
De Guzman stayed poised come crunch time and eventually sealed the win on extra points, finishing the game with an ace at just the left corner.
De Guzman’s win made up for her team’s loss to the Alvarez-led Calabarzon quartet in the secondary girls team tie finals held at the same venue on Friday.
