DAVAO CITY -- Great teamwork, hard work and sacrifice paved way for Team Mulatto of Davao City to win the country’s first gold medal in the just-concluded 2017 Asian Oceanic Ultimate and Guts Club Championship (AOUGCC) in Manila.
In his fight last August 17 to 20 at the Ayala Alabang Country Club in Manila, Mulatto crushed Boracay Bandits, 15-8 in the Mixed Division championship of the event sanctioned by the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF).The club championship, which is held only every four years, was hosted by the Philippine Flying Disc Association (PFDA).
“This achievement was the consequence of hard work, the sacrifice of every individual in the team, and great teamwork,” said Mulatto spirit captain Lien Verdeprado.
Owned and managed by Daisy Cimafranca, Mulatto earned a slot in the AOUGCC for its outstanding performances in the recent local and international tournaments -- 2015 Vietnam Zone Cup champion, 2016 Manila Spirits 2nd runner-up and 2016 Nationals 3rd runner-up.
“This was the first time Mulatto was given a chance to join in a major WFDF event so we had trained hard for this with the hope to well-represent our beloved country in regional event,” said Verdeprado.
“With only over two months of preparation, all members in the teams needed to commit with six trainings per week,” she added.
Mulatto had night training during weekdays and whole day training during weekends. Their conditioning program was done by Combats 360 Dojo to ensure to be fit for three games at most per day and 90 minutes per game - triple the length of provincial tourneys and 1.5 times longer than national tourneys.
“Being able to make it to top eight of this event was already an ambitious objective for this team with the participation of a number of top teams from Japan, Australia, China and Singapore, countries that have participated in a number of world's events,” she said.
All Asian Oceanic national federation members were invited to join while limited slots were allocated for each country depending on their world rankings, reputation in international tourneys and other considerations. A total of 65 teams from 14 countries saw action in four different divisions - 22 teams in All Men, 11 in All Women’s, 4 in Guts and 28 in Mixed division.
“This is by far one of the biggest AOUGCC with most participating teams and divisions,” she said. But Mulatto had a shaky start by losing to the Rascals, 11-13 in their first game in the opening round. Mulatto also bowed to the Japan Mixed Nationals 1st runner-up Café de Ludia, 12-15 in the second game and was ranked below in Bracket D after the round robin.
Mulatto finally bounced back in their third outing by demolishing #LGW from Korea, 15-6 in the cross-over match. It was Mulatto’s fourth meeting against the taller Korean squad.
Mulatto continued their winning form by whipping Japan Mixed Nationals 5th placer Osaka Nato JPN, 15-9 to advance into the quarter finals. Mulatto then used its vaunted tight zone defense in trouncing Singapore’s Freakshow (who represented his country in the last World tournament in London) via a 13-10 victory to make it to the top 4.
In the semi-finals, Mulatto again played against a taller squad Paradigm, ranked 11th in Australia Mixed Nationals but still managed to score a 15-7 victory.
Mulatto again had a slow start in the championship against another Filipino team Boracay Bandits, which eliminated last year’s first runner-up Sunken Pleasure n the semi-finals.
Mulatto was behind 5-8 after the first half. But with their strong teamwork, supportive sideline cheers, and determination to work harder on both offense and defense, Mulatto was able to add 10 more points and prevented Boracay from scoring to claim the country’s first ever AOUGCC gold medal via a 15-8 win.
“This result is a great pride for Davao and Mindanao as well as for the Philippines in the world competition,” said Verdeprado.
Team Mulatto was composed of Joie Monterola, Jo Angelic Francia, Jean Tiana Lim, Abigail Madrona, Rozel Barug, Jean Tuvilla, Kristel Gale Cornel, April Adalim, Joan Coleen Lim, Eileen Piquero, Gerard Pastor, John Harvie Dindin, Dayson de Vera, Dann Noelle Mazene Avena, Drian Verdeprado, Jan Jan Sumading, Vergil Nelson Canedo, Carlos Anthony Montejo, Kaiser Angelo Basil, Vincent Balucanag, Jeaster Sabornido, Bryle Quimintan, Brian Paulino, Adrian Roy Delfin, Marvin Subang and Verdeprado. (Lito delos Reyes/PNA)
