Athletes and officials of the Cebu City Niños celebrate at the Enan Chiong Activity Center after they were crowned champions for the 25th straight time in the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) Meet.
CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO
Cebu City Niños remain a force to reckon with 25th straight Cviraa crown
City of Naga — For the 25th straight time, the Cebu City Niños are the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) Regional Meet champions—a feat that isn’t just a stroke of luck but a product of sheer hard work.
The week-long, multi-sporting event came to a close yesterday with the Niños reasserting their dominance by collecting 144 gold medals, 64 silvers and 77 bronzes.
Cebu province was at far second with a haul of 37 golds, 41 silvers and 47 bronzes.
Mandaue City finished third with a 29-49-37 tally followed by Bohol province, which bagged 25 golds, 38 silvers and 75 bronzes.
Lapu-Lapu City completed the top five by netting 23 golds, 35 silvers and 35 bronzes.
“We are happy that our hard work paid off. Our winning isn’t just by some stroke of luck. This is the result of our dedication and serious training,” said Department of Education (DepEd)-Cebu City Sports Coordinator Zenaida Gocotano.
Cebu City topped the secondary competition where the Niños collected the bulk of their harvest with 102 golds, 39 silvers and 46 bronzes.
Taking the second spot was Mandaue with 21 silvers, 39 silvers and 18 bronzes. Coming in at third was Cebu province at 12-18-25.
Cebu City was also the champion in the elementary division with 42 golds, 25 silvers and 31 bronzes.
Cebu City was trailed in the elementary competition by Cebu province, which collected 25 golds, 23 silvers and 22 bronzes. Bohol ranked third at 14-19-26.
Gocotano said the Niños actually won 48 golds but only 44 were counted in the DepEd official tally since the four golds that the city won in wushu were not included in the final count.
From demonstration sports last year, wushu, wrestling, billiards and futsal were included in the regular sports this year.
Cebu City snatched 113 gilts in its title run last year and the increase in gold medal harvest was somehow expected with the addition of four events.
The Niños easily pocketed seven gold medals when no other team joined in the taekwondo event.
“We are happy with the title. It gives us a feeling of achievement,” said Edward Hayco, chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC).
Hayco said winning the title isn’t just the only factor that defined the Niños’ showing this year.
“We have a deeper and broader understanding of the way we performed. We won more medals since some events were added but if we take out those additional sports, we our medals increased had 15% to 20% and that’s substantial. We won almost 50% of the medals at stake and that made the victory much sweeter,” said Hayco.