The duo of Mico Dumalos and Mark Gonzalo Benter bagged a gold medal for the Benguet dancesport team during the Manila Open online dancesport competition held on weekend.
Dumalos and Benter led the team in edging out competitors in the open duo male category for the gold medal.
Aside from the gold, the Benguet team members also won silver and bronze medals in the competition joined by 460 athletes from all over the country and foreign countries such as Columbia, Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Jhosan Galvez and Mary Luz It-itan contributed a silver medal for their work in the open duo female category while the tandem of Eiji Justine Balao and Roschan Escalera also contributed a bronze medal in the youth duo female.
For the solo events, Mark Benter struck two bronze medals in the grades C and B categories while Jayson Abenoja got bronze in the standard C.
Coach Charibelle Pingawan said Internet connection was lost during the competition due to the heavy rains, which forced them to use mobile data.
Despite this, the athletes persevered throughout the two-day event organized by Dance Results Philippines, which is the only licensed scrutineer in the Philippines.
The other team members who landed places in the competition were Jhosan Galvez, sixth place in the grade C and ninth place in the grade B; Ashley Abance, ninth place in jive category; Mico Dumalos, ninth place in grade B and semifinalist in the grade C; and Jessica Ogbinar, semifinalist in grade C.
Pingawan said they recorded video clips during the competition to use for further improvement during training at Quads Gym in La Trinidad, Benguet.
The team thanked those who supported them during the competition and practices. – Ofelia C. Empian
