PASSI CITY — Dave Marcelo became the new Obstacle Challenge king in the 2023 PBA All-Star Weekend, Friday at the City of Passi Arena here.
The TNT big man clocked in 25.4 seconds in the final round to oust reigning champion Beau Belga (29.8) and Christian Standhardinger (27.4).
He was quick to accomplish the first parts of the course until the free-throw shot, but immediately made his second attempt to wrap it up.
“Sobrang amazing experience,” the hefty 34-year-old said. “Hindi ko in-expect na ganon, kasi first time ko. I did my best to compete.”
Marcelo made his way into the final after beating out San Miguel Beer counterpart Jeepy Faundo in the second round of the competition.
The San Beda product appeared quite comfortable with the Obstacle Challenge right in the opening round, where he defeated JM Calma of NorthPort.
But the same can’t be said about Belga, who had to overcome passing struggles just to beat out Terrafirma’s Joseph Gabayni to advance to the semis.
That same problem happened again in the final, the reason why he spent almost 30 ticks on the court – far from his 21.0 to win the 2019 title.
