Archer Luis Gabriel Moreno did the unexpected when he delivered the gold medal for the Philippines in the second Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
Moreno, who was ranked 30th among 32 male archers here, teamed up perfectly with China’s Li Jiaman, ranked No. 3 in the women’s side, to win the gold in the mixed team event.
The winning tandem stood at the middle of the podium and received their gold medals.
Moreno, the flag-bearer of the Philippine delegation to this YOG, said he didn’t expect to win anything in this gathering of over 3,000 athletes from 202 Olympic nations.
“I didn’t expect to win anything here. I just gave my best,” he said.
It’s the first gold medal for the Philippines in the Youth Olympics for athletes aged 14 to 18 years. In the inaugural staging of the event in 2010 in Singapore, the Philippines didn’t win a single medal.
“This is a big win for us coming from a third world country,” Moreno added.
In the finals, Moreno and Jiaman defeated Muhammad Zoklepeli of Malaysia and Cynthia Freywald of Germany, 6-0 (38-37, 38-35, 37-33).
Moreno clinched the victory with a nine on his last arrow. In the finals, he had 10s in the first and second sets. Jiaman had a 10 in each of the three sets.
In the semis against Canada’s Eric Peters and Finland’s Mirjam Tuokkola, the 16-year-old Filipino archer had three straight 10s.
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