Garcia archery siblings shine

CEBU CITY – Competing in different disciplines, siblings Girvin and Gyneth Garcia sparkled on a bright and sunny Friday in the penultimate day of the 1^st Asean Youth Archery Championships at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex.

Between them, it was the elder Girvin who was the biggest winner, stunning Olympus Archery Club teammate and national archer Jonathan Reaport 6-5 in the pulsating semifinals en route to ruling the men's 70-meter Under-21 recurve Olympic round event.

With neither of them giving an inch, Reaport and Garcia were tied in the first round at 29 for a point each and deadlocked at 5-all after the next four rounds, extending the match to a thrilling sudden-death shoot-off.

Reaport shot first and scored a 9, a feat matched by Garcia, whose arrow, however, was just slightly closer to the bulls-eye in finally winning the nerve-wracking encounter 29-29, 26-27, 27-26, 29-27, 9+ to 9 to enter the title match of the tournament organized by World Archery Philippines.

Buoyed by the epic win, the bespectacled Garcia shut out University of Baguio Archery Club's Keith Reinan Nawew 6-0 (29-25, 26-23, 26-25) in securing a deserving gold medal in the competition backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Cebu city government led by Mayor Mike Rama and acting Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros.

Not to be outdone, younger sister and OAC teammate Gwen outclassed University of Baguio Archery Club's Michiko Gonzales 668-661 in topping the women's under-18 compound event in the meet also supported by FR Sevilla Industrial Corp. owned by WAP chairman Felizardo Sevilla Jr.

There was also a surprise upset in the women's under-21 recurve Olympic round finale, with OAC's Charlene Santos dumping fancied teammate and world youth meet veteran Ada Lagrada 7-3 (25-25, 26-25, 27-24, 29-25, 26-25).

Also sharing the limelight was Cebu Archery Club's Aldrener Igot Jr., a protégé of WAP secretary general Dondon Sombrio, who whipped OAC's Benjamin Aurellano 6-0 (29-21, 26-25, 28-23) in topping the men's Under-18 Olympic round contest.

But Palarong Pambansa standout Naina Tagle, carrying the colors of Stars and Arrows Archery Academy, suffered a stinging 4-6 (27-29, 24-26, 30-28, 27-26, 25-23) loss to Pro Archery Club's Safa Halfa Hasibuan in the battle for the gold in the women's Under-18 Olympic round event.

"This must be my best Olympic round performance I've had so far in my career, knowing that I shot my best and Jonathan also shot his best," said Garcia of his spine-tingling outing with Rapaport in the semifinals of the event also backed by Tangent.