LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte -- Titus Sia of the National Capital Region (NCR) now holds the title as the most bemedalled athlete with seven gold medals in the 65th Palarong Pambansa last Thursday.

Sia, an incoming Grade 7 student of Xavier School, won both 50-meter backstroke and the 4 x 50 m freestyle relay in the fourth day here at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Memorial Stadium to complete his gold medal collection.

The San Juan native also collected mints in  the 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 4 x 50 medley relay, 100m freestyle, and 400m freestyle in the prior days.

Meanwhile in men's basketball, Western Visayas and Davao Region are set to clash for all the marbles on Thursday, 8:30 a.m., at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena after beating their respecitive semifinal foes.

Western Visayas, which gained fame after dethroning National Capital Region in the quarterfinal, defeated CALABARZON, 80-73, in the semis.

Meanwhile, Davao Region escaped last year's finalist Central Luzon, 66-65, in their semifinal match.

As of 10:20 p.m. last Thursday, NCR still has a firm grip on the top spot with 89 golds, 56 silvers, and 33 bronze medals.

CALABARZON remained in second place with a 35-57-51 gold-silver-bronze medal tally.

The Davao Region is in third place with 35-20-32 medal tally.