MANILA, Philippines —  Albay stamped its class to rule the recent Palarong Bicol which Guinobatan hosted at the Albay Sports Complex.

The province bested 13 other regional delegations, including perennial champion Camarines Norte, for its first overall championship in 26 years.

Overall, Albay amassed 140 gold medals, 88 silvers and 68 bronzes for the total haul of 296 medals, posting a record of 489.7 points, 54.5 points ahead over dislodged 2010 champ Camarines Norte, which got only 434.5 points and finished as 1st runner-up.

Camarines Sur trailed Camarines Norte with 432.5 points, followed by Legazpi City and Naga City to complete the top five placers.

Flexible tennis table slated
The first big local table tennis tournament unfolds when the 5th Flexible Cup Table Tennis Championships kick off tomorrow, Sunday, at the SM City Manila featuring the country’s top tablenetters led by 2009 Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist Richard Gonzales.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Fujian Sports Bureau Chairman Xu Zheng Guo and POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros will grace the opening rites of the competition jointly organized by the Table Tennis Association North District (TATAND), the Manila city government, Manila Sports Council (MASCO) and SM City Manila.

Gonzales will see action in the men’s team event where a top prize of P20,000 is at stake while the distaff side, spearheaded by national women’s champion Cristanta Abas of Makati Panther, will be an individual contest where the champion will receive P5,000 in the event sponsored by Flexible Packaging Products Corp., represented by chairman Chan Cuan.

In this corner
A heavy six-fight offering are in store for boxing aficionados in today’s episode of Rod Nazario’s In This Corner over NBN-4.

The first half of the 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. program presented by Ginebra San Miguel, San Miguel Beer, Purefoods, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Biogenic Isopropyl Alcohol and Petron features the fights between Jovane Marinduque and Roel Peligro, Jerry Nardo and Darylly Amoncio and Leonard Guardiano and Regie Benueza.

Dubbed ‘Clash of the Champion KOs,’ the other half of the show concludes by showing previous matches pitting Ronnie Rex Dalut and Rhayrhay Guanzon, Vic Racuma and Janjan Guanzon, and Art Villanueva against Nikong Calamba.