NAGA, Philippines – Student athletes from Cebu City will once again form the bulk of the Central Visayas delegation to this year's Palarong Pambansa in Albay as the Ninos clinched their 24th straight overall title in the recently-concluded Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet, which was hosted by the city of Naga.
The Cebu City Ninos once again finished at the top of the heap after amassing 113 golds, 71 silvers and 59 bronze medals, leaving Mandaue City at far second with a 47-42-47 tally. Bohol surprised many with a third place finish with 31-40-65.
Despite creating its own sports commission and conducting several trainings and seminars, Cebu Province failed to improve its finish in this multi-sporting event after dropping to fourth place with a 28-36-45 tally while Lapu-Lapu City finished in fifth place with 21-30-36.
Ninos’ success no surprise
The Ninos' top place finish comes as no surprise. The delegation made up mostly of students from the private schools also fielded the most number of athletes at about 500. They also have an entry in all 16 sporting events contested, secondary level archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, baseball/softball, chess, football, gymnastics, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, tekwondo, tennis and volleyball.
The surprise comes in the form of Bohol Province which not only came in third overall but also emerged as one of the Ninos top competitors in the regional meet. Bohol even led the almost week-long CVIRAA Meet in the first two days of competition after ruling the athletics event with a medal count of 22-20-15 against Cebu City's 13-9-6.
Bohol also contested several finals of the team events against Cebu City such as secondary boys basketball, secondary boys football, secondary softball, elementary softball and elementary boys volleyball. It was also the first time in 8 years that Bohol's secondary boys basketball team advanced to the finals after ruling the event in 2008.
The bulk of the Cebu City Ninos gilt was raked in by its secondary girls who amassed 42 gold medals. The secondary boys added 39, the elementary girls contributed 17 while the elementary boys wrapped up the city's campaign with 15 golds.
Despite getting pummeled in athletics, the Cebu City Ninos reigned supreme in gymnastics with 23 gold medals and was able to survive a tight fight against Talisay City in swimming, ruling the event with 18 gilts against Talisay's 17 haul. Their other gold medals in individual events came from taekwondo (18), badminton (8), archery (7), arnis (5), chess (5), table tennis (3), boxing (3) and tennis (2).
The Ninos were also able to hold their ground in the team events mostly against Bohol. During the penultimate day of competition, the Ninos won the gold in both secondary and elementary softball against Bohol while it was the latter's turn to lambast the Ninos to take home the elementary boys volleyball title.
Cebu City's secondary volleyball teams also dismissed their opponents with the University of San Jose Recoletos spikers defeating Cebu Province in 3 straight sets and the Southwestern University volleybelles needing a fourth set to dismantle Mandaue City manned by players from Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC).
Ninos top Bohol in secondary football, basketball
The Cebu City Ninos' stake on the overall title would not have been in danger had they lost the secondary boys football and basketball titles to Bohol on the last day of competition. However, the Ninos proved unfazed as they frustrated Bohol to take home both titles. The Ninos demolished Bohol, 4-1, in football while their basketball team annihilated Bohol, 106-62.
The secondary football team was manned by booters from the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC), Paref Springdale and University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF). DBTC's Agustin Rafael Roa opened the scoring spree for the Ninos with an early goal at the 4th minute. This was followed by a hat-trick by USPF's Marcel Ivan Ouano in the 21st, 35th and 57th minutes of the match.
Bohol was able to score via a penalty kick taken by Eduard Rei Acabo in the 61st minute.
In basketball, the Ninos, who fielded a solid University of the Visayas Baby Lancers lineup, was never threatened and led by as much as 44 points, 98-54, with 3 minutes remaining in the ballgame.
Joshua Yerro topscored with 19 points with Raul Johncork Cabahug chipping in 15 points and Justin Jake Perry Rosete and Marvin Rey Oche each adding 13 points. Cabahug, however, was the one who was named Most Valuable Player due to his consistent performance through the week-long competition, especially during the semifinals where they dismissed Mandaue, which was manned by the SHS-Ateneo Magis Eagles, 83-65. This is the same team that the Baby Lancers never won against in last year's CESAFI junior basketball.
The Ninos younger hoopsters also secured the elementary boys basketball title with a 65-61 dismissal of the Cebu Province. Their counterpart in football, however, lost the title to Mandaue, 0-1.
Lower tally than last year
While the Cebu City Ninos medal haul of 113-71-59 may look dominant against the medal hauls of their runners up, their current medal tally is actually less than their output last year which was 115-93-63.
This is a cause for concern with the 2016 Palarong Pambansa in Albay approaching from April 10-18.
The lower tally means the CVIRAA delegation will only have a little more than a month to prepare. CVIRAA is under pressure to improve its performance after posting its worst finish last year at sixth place overall. The highest it placed was at third overall in 2013.
Department of Education Cebu City Division sports coordinator Zenaida Gocotano said that once they finalize the selection of the Palaro athletes, they will immediately commence in-house training in the hopes of improving their performance in this year's Palarong Pambansa. Gocotano added that the last time they did that, they placed third.
City of Naga's successful hosting
City of Naga Mayor Valdemar M. Chiong said he believes that they have successfully hosted the multi-sporting event judging by the many positive comments that he received from delegation officials, save for one incident where delegation officials billeted at the Langtad National High School were robbed before the CVIRAA meet started.
Mayor Chiong said it was very unfortunate that it happened but that they tried their best to compensate for it such as reinforcing police visibility in all venues and billeting areas during the week-long event.
Naga officials also assured that the incident is being investigated. One of the victims who lost a tablet to the robber was also handed a new tablet by an anonymous donor during the closing ceremonies held at the Enan Chiong Activity Center.
The newly-built P68-million Teodoro Mendiola Sr. Oval and Sports Field did not only benefit the city's hosting but it also helped end the city's gold medal drought after 6 years courtesy of Joan Alinsunod, who topped the secondary girls 1,500-meter run and 800m run and Genalyn Barquio who ruled the elementary girls 1,500m run despite not wearing any shoes.
Mayor Chiong said that he was told by the coaches that having an oval where they could practice was really a great help for the tracksters.
Aside from the 3 gilts, Naga athletes also ended their campaign with 3 silver medals and 14 bronze medals which put them in 9th place out of 13 delegations.
The mayor added that they are willing to host the event once again with their Olympic-size pool targeted to be done by the third quarter of the year.
“We tried to have that completed for this competition but it just can't be done. Next time, we will finally be able to have the pool,” said Mayor Chiong.
This will serve as the second Olympic-size pool in the island of Cebu. The first one is the Cebu City Aquatics Center located beside the Cebu City Sports Center. It was where the CVIRAA Meet 2016 swimming competition was held.
The pool is located at the Baywalk area behind the covered tennis shell-clay court. A badminton court can also be found in the area and Chiong said that they also plan to build another football field within the place.
Chiong added that when all the sports facilities are already in place, he plans to put up a school for the arts and sports where a grassroots development could be started.
Asked why he has this affinity for sports development, Mayor Chiong said he must have been influenced by his mother who had worked with DepEd's Physical Education. – Rappler.com