ERNESTO Porto was a two-time Olympian boxer who represented the country in London 1948 and Helsinki 1952.
The gangly slugger was a menace in the 63.5 kg class, winning a gold medal in the light welterweight division in the 1954 Asian Games here in Manila.
Sixty-five years later, and it's the turn of his granddaughter to get her share of the spotlight, albeit in a different sport.
Jylyn Nicanor proudly lived up to Porto's gold medal-winning legacy, copping the Philippine fencing team's first gold in the 30th Southeast Asian Games in women's individual sabre.
"Sobrang saya ko. Di ko ma-explain," she said after topping Diah Permatasari of Indonesia in the final on Thursday.
With Nicanor's gold medal win, the Philippine national anthem was placed at the fencing competitions awarding ceremonies for the first time after Filipinos settled for two silver and three bronze medals.
It was a proud moment for her, but all the more for her mother 59-year-old Emerita Porto-Nicanor who introduced the sport of fencing to Jylyn when she was 14.
"Project ng councilor sa baranggay namin yan nagsimula. Libreng fencing. Pinilit lang sila mag-training," she recounted of the grassroots sports program that little she knew would lead to the fencing bug biting all of her other three children hard.
Thirteen years have passed and Jylyn is now gold medalist just like her grandfather.
Nicanor believes that her breakthrough will open the floodgates for Team Philippines heading to the team competitions.
"Feeling ko po madadala ng team yung spirit, na hindi na sila kakabahan sa mga game," she said, with Nicanor still set to compete in team sabre in the biennial games.
"Kinaya ko, so kakayanin din nila."
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
