DAVAO CITY — Chino and Sydney Tancontian were named as Davao Sportswriters Association-Southern Sports Digest Sports Heroes of the Year during its awarding ceremony last Saturday at the Rogen Inn here.

Sydney earned the Female Award for her distinguished performance in sambo.

The 26-year-old member of the national team won the gold medal in the DSL Dutch Sambo Open last March at the Dalfsen, Netherlands. The following month, she pocketed the title in the USA Open International Sambo Cup in Atlanta, Georgia as well as the Asia & Oceania Sambo Championship in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Younger brother Chino, on the other hand, clinched the Male Award in Judo after winning the gold medal in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last December.

The 25-year-old Chino also bagged the gold medals in the 51st All Japan Sambo Championship last February in Tokyo and the USA Open International Sambo Cup last April in Atlanta.

“I’m very proud of Sydney and Chino,” said father Paolo Tancontian, the president of Philippine Sambo Federation Inc., who personally received the plaques from Senator Christopher “Bong” Go and Philippine Sports Commission commissioner Walter Francis Torres.

Junior golfer Zoey Behati Ruiz Mascariñas and gymnast Zoey Jhanine Sasngutan were named co-Rising Athletes of the Year for their respective feats.

The eight-year-old Mascariñas brought the city’s name to the international stage after winning the 2026 Superkit Junior Elite Tour Philippines at the Apo Golf and Country Club and a top-five finish in the 2026 Under Armour Junior World Golf Championships at the Reunion Resort Golf Course in Orlando, Florida.