Filipino duo Rhimel Daniel Cabides (right) and Antonette Amante show winning form to clinch the gold medal in the youth mixed pairs event of the 10th Aero Gymnastics Asian Championships presented by the PSC at the Tagaytay CT Velodrome in Tagaytay City, August 6, 2028. Handout/PSC Media
MANILA -- Two Filipino pairs scored a gold and a bronze in the youth mixed pairs event of the 10th Aerobic Gymnastics Asian Championships, early Thursday morning in Tagaytay.
Rhimel Daniel Cabides and Antonette Amante pranced and danced with both dynamism and elegance in securing the gold medal with a score of 17.80 points at the modified Tagaytay CT Velodrome.
General Santos natives Rhys Enoch Balmayor and John Mikaela Ladaran gave the country's second medal in securing third place (17.150) in the meet backed by the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Both pairs made the most of their international debuts in the competition organized by the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines and sanctioned by the Asian Gymnastics Union.
"Napatunayan namin maari kaming makapasabayan internationally," said Amante, a triple Palaro gold medalist, who like Cabides, is 14 and a Grade 8 Teodoro Alonzo High School student.
"Maganda na mapakinggan yung national anthem ng Pilipinas," added the petite athlete while her beaming teammate and classmate was beside her.
"This is all too surreal. We really did not expect it. It was only adream ," said Ladaran, 11, in sharing the podium with the Manila-based athletes.
"I am very proud of both pairs. Nagin mahirap din yung journey ng mga bata and their training so I am very happy with the result," said coach and former national team athlete Carlo Joshua Tangonan of his wards.
Vying as the first squad among six finalists, Cabides and Amante set the tone with their eye-popping score of 17.80 points based on the cumulative tally of difficulty, execution and artistry.
The pair was on pins and needles for a while as the rest of the succeeding duos went to the mat to perform one after the other.
The closest squad to come near their score was the Vietnamese tandem of Ann Thinh Tran and Ngoc Gia Ngueyen, who also had 17.80 points, but were relegated to the silver for its execution - 7.450 to the PH duo's 7.50.