By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Negrense Paul Barcelona carried the scoring chores for Western Visayas (WV) as they claimed a bronze medal in the 2024 Palarong Pambansa secondary boys’ 3×3 basketball at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on Monday, July 15.

The Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts standout tallied 20 points as the WV 3×3 cagers secured a podium finish after a 21-17 win over the National Capital Region (NCR) in the bronze medal game.

“I am really determined to win this game,” Barcelona said.

“I just want to give my best because I don’t want to have any regrets, and luckily, we were able to win the bronze medal,” he added.

Aside from Barcelona, also part of the Region 6’s 3×3 basketball squad are Tobby Orbista, Seth Guarino and Jameer Gapusan, all members of the Thunderbolts basketball squad.

The Renato Callora-mentored WV 3×3 team swept their three elimination round matches against NCR (19-9), CAVRAA (21-16) and Bangsamoro (via default) to reach the semifinals round.

However, Barcelona and his squad fell short against Central Luzon in the semifinals round on early Monday, 21-17, before bouncing back against NCR in the bronze medal match.

Meanwhile, swimmer Alexi Kouzenye Cabayaran of Bacolod Trinity Christian School secured her fourth gold of the competition in the secondary girls’ 4×100 relay with Leanne Caspillo, Anika Matiling and Julia Orada.

Before this, Cabayaran won gold medals in the secondary girls’ 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter backstroke, and 4×500 freestyle relay events before settling for a silver medal finish in the 50-meter freestyle event.

Reaiah Patricia Tan of Bacolod Tay Tung High School won a gold in the elementary girls’ women’s artistic gymnastics single bar, while John Gian Retoya clinched a gold in the secondary boys’ wushu event.

Joshua Emmanuel Deita of Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod won taekwondo gold in the secondary boys’ Category 6, while Dondy Santillan, Jr. of Living Stones International School ruled the elementary boys’ Category 1 event./ASC, WDJ