Sports: Negrense Shuttlers Ready for WVRAA
With a month to go before the 2012 Western Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet kicks off on March 12 here in Bacolod City, members of the defending champion Negros Occidental Badminton Team are in tough training to ensure that they will able to protect their respective titles in both the elementary and secondary divisions which they won last year in Iloilo City.
This was confirmed yesterday by Jaguar Badminton Academy (JBA) head coach Jordan Sun.
Sun, who heads the supervision of the Negros Team’s preparation, said that the team has been in rigid training right after the provincial meet. He added that they likewise joined several tournaments to further expose the players to different variety of plays as well as boast their self-confidence during the competition.
The team is composed of: secondary boys –Robert Aloyan, Alem J. Palmares and Louie John Medina of JBA-Cadiz, and Glen Carlo Lopez of Bago City; secondary girls –Aprille Diane Bibiano, Dhessa Mae Arino and Mitzi Joy Sun of JBA-Cadiz, and Karina Parreno of JBA-Trinity Christian School (TCS); elementary boys –Eldrick Paul and Carl Jericho Tan of JBA-TCS, Justin Daniel Anglo of JBA-St. John’s Institute (SJI), and Eljee John Gavile of Himamaylan City; and elementary girls – Danielle Grace and Pamela Lopez of Bago City, Marifel Bermeo of JBA-Cadiz and Mia Manguilimotan of Talisay City.
In the secondary boys, Cadiz’s Aloyan, Palmares and Medina remained in the team as Christian Sison has already moved on to college and currently with the University of St. La Salle. Lopez, Sison’s teammate in Bago City, has taken his slot in the team and is also expected to play big in the actual competition.
Meanwhile, in the secondary girls, only Bibiano and Arino stayed with the team as their former teammates Nikki Servando and Merry Joy Fernandez are already in college. Servando is now playing for St. Benilde College in Manila while Fernandez plays for North Negros College in Cadiz City.
On the other hand, in the elementary division, only Danielle Lopez remained as part of last year’s team as her teammate Sun, has already moved up to join the secondary girls’ team while others have already graduated. Sun is the niece of JBA head coach Jordan Sun.
The elder Sun said that though some of his players are new in the team but they will try their best to defend their titles as they will be playing on their home turf.
Meantime, venues for the upcoming regional competition had been released. Among the venues are Panaad Park and Sports Complex (athletics, basketball-elementary, boxing, chess, football-secondary, sepak takraw, sipa, swimming, table tennis, and tennis-elementary), Paglaum Sprts Complex (archery, baseball, football-elementary, softball, tennis-secondary and some games in volleyball), Pohang Badminton Center (badminton), NOMPAC (basketball-secondary), Negros Occidental High School (taekwondo) and USLS (cultural).* (JGToga/SCOOP-Bacolod)
