Ateneo student is PH’s top junior trap shooter

ANTONIO Joseph Javines of Ateneo de Manila is slowly but surely making a name for himself in Shooting’s trap and skeet clay category.

The 13-year-old Javines captured the National Juniors Trap and Skeet title after finishing fifth overall in the recently-concluded National Open Championship Trap/Skeet competition held at the PSC-PNSA Clay Target Range in Muntinlupa City. Javines, also known as AJ in the shooting community, scored 14-1819-18-15 for a total of 84 shots out of 125 targets.

Javines finished fifth behind Philippine National Shooting member Hagen Alexander Topacio, Eric Ang,

Itos Carag and Jethro Dionisio in trap men’s category.

Topacio had 23-22-23-24-23 for total of 115, followed by Ang with 2321-22-21-19 for 106 and Carag with 21-21-22-19-20 for 103.

In finishing fifth, Javines also clinched the National Junior plum and a spot in Philippine National Training Team.

“Ever since I took up the sport, it is really my dream to become a national player,” said Javines, who even beat actor-sportsman Richard Gomez.

Gomez finished ninth overall.

Javines attributed his success to his long and intense training and the support of his proud parents, Engi- neer Teddy and Michelle Javines. Valerie Levanza and Joelle Panganiban finished 1-2 in the Ladies’ Trap category. Levanza shone with 15-14-16-1317 for 75 points while Panganiban struck with 13-13-16-17-15 for 74.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Richard Bachmann and Philippine National Shooting Association (PNSA) president Rep. Faustino Michael Dy III awarded the medals to the winners.

“He is now the future of Philippine shooting. He is one of a kind at his age and dedication. We have another shooting champion in the making,” said Bachmann after watching

Javines’ performance.

“It’s very impressive to see a 13-year-old making his presence felt in this very demanding sport of Olympic trap,” said national team coach Fernando Mercado, who is personally training Javines since last year. Mercado noted that Javines is the youngest player who finished in the Top 10, which also included seasoned campaigners JM Ancheta, Charles Nalupta, Edsel Gino, Gomez, and Leonardo Gino.

Mercado has been training AJ with a portable clay thrower at a makeshift range in San Fernando Pampanga.

UAAP volleyball: Tams brush off Falcons

FAR Eastern University fended off Adamson University’s challenge to hammer out a 31-33, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23 victory and rediscover its winning ways in the UAAP Season 85 Men’s Volleyball tournament, Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Trailing 15-18 in the fourth set, Mark Calado and Martin Bugaoan leveled the frame at 18-all.

Despite the fightback from the Soaring Falcons with captain Jude Aguilar, Bugaoan eventually ended the battle with a smart push to the empty Adamson backrow.

“I think this is a good response. We struggled pero good response, kasi mahirap sa isang bagong team yung pagtayo pagkatapos ng pagkadapa,” coach Rei Diaz said of FEU’s bounceback win after losing a five-setter to University of Santo Tomas Wednesday.

“Step by step, at least yung isang step nagawa na namin,” he added.

Setter Benny Martinez was steady for FEU after producing 25 excellent sets, leading to a huge 72-41 advantage on attacks. Calado once more paced the scoring for the Tamaraws with

The two-time Olympic veteran was close to the qualifying time-A of all her three events.

“She is in the middle of her hard training. Since she is already a medalist in the last SEA Games, She is already qualified for Cambodia. When this competition came, we said we are going to join even if we know that we are not yet in peak condition,” said Lim.

Lim said Alkhaldi is not yet at her peak, and being at the tryouts gave them a chance to find out how she can plan her swims.

A total of 188 swimmers from 102 clubs participated in the Clark where 19 swimmers hit the qualifying marks, including Jarrod Hatch and Xiandi Chua who now have a big chance to make it outright to the national pool.

Alkhaldi, who saw action in the London and Rio Olympics, is making the transition from being a full-time worker with her new job at Ayala Corporations’ pilot program Atletang Ayala and an elite national athlete.

The Ayala program aims to help the next generation of Filipino athletes achieve their full potential. For now, retiring from the sport is still far from Alkhaldi’s mind, and tweaking her performance for the coming SEA Games is among her immediate priorities.