MEDALISTS. Laoag City mayor Michael Keon congratulates Lara Alejandra Andres, a taekwondo silver medalist during the 14th Asean championships and Andrea Gaile Ansagay, 2018 Batang Pinoy taekwondo bronze medalist from Laoag City. (File photo courtesy of Francis Lopez)
LAOAG CITY — Four female athletes from Ilocos Norte province are qualified to join the Philippine national sports team.
They are Lara Alejandra Andres, a taekwondo silver medalist during the 14th Asean championships from Laoag City, and dragon boat racers Charmaine Mae Cabugon, Carla Joy Cabugon and Jessica Ariem from Paoay, Ilocos Norte.
The three girls from Paoay were discovered by dragon boat national team coach Leonora Escollante when the province hosted the first dragon boat festival at the Paoay Lake in May 2017.
A sports clinic was initiated by then senior board member and now Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Joseph Manotoc to train more athletes in the province to join local and national sporting events.
Helen Domingo, director of the Ilocos Norte Sports Development Council (INSDC), in an interview Monday said they take pride of having Ilocos Norte athletes now joining the country’s national team, particularly in taekwondo and in dragon boat race.
Manotoc, she said, is offering more scholarship grants to youngsters in his goal to produce more local and national athletes from the province.
He also expressed his desire to engage more Ilocano youths in various sporting events to represent the province in larger-scale or international sports tilts.
Manotoc is calling on athletes to not just win every game but to “remember the value of sportsmanship and teamwork,” as these are the basic values of a true athlete.
Meanwhile, the INSDC reported some 50 athletes are now training vigorously in preparation for the Batang Pinoy 2019 national championships in Palawan on August 25-31, 2019.
Said athletes will represent the province in national championships in taekwondo, swimming, tennis, baseball and gymnastics. (PNA)
