Sports Tourism to turn Cebu into PH’s sports melting pot

THE QUEEN City of the South will soon be the melting pot of elite and aspiring athletes as year-round sporting events are lined up for the Cebu City Sports Tourism.

To be spearheaded by Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo, the program is projected to kick off in the last quarter of this year.

“We will be promoting Cebu City as a venue for sports tourism. We will promote each barangay through sports but the ultimate goal is to discover potential talents from different sporting fields,” said Guardo in a press briefing yesterday at Pino Restaurant.
Cebu City is already home to some big sporting events but Guardo said competitions should be held with regularity.

“We have the Cebu City Marathon, the X-Terra and IronMan, these are big events. But I noticed that there are months wherein we don’t have tournaments. There are lulls. So what we want to achieve in the program is to provide regular tournaments.

Athletes tend to relax when they don’t have competitions to look forward to. Give them opportunities to showcase their skills and they will train hard,” Guardo said.

The program will also give each barangay in the city to promote their places.

Under the program, sports competitions will be held every month. In the initial plans, marathon/trail run will be held in January, archery/tennis in February, dragonboat in March, beach volleyball/indoor/volleyball in April, bike festival (motocross, cross country, downhill MTC and road race) in May, football in June, badminton in July, martial arts (arnis, taekwondo, karatedo, judo and mixed martial arts) in August, dancesport/zumbathon in September, swimming in October, chess in November and basketball in December.

Guardo clarified that the program will not be a duplication of the undertakings of the Cebu City Sports Competitions (CCSC).
Guardo is currently serving a three-month suspension that was slapped against him by the Office of the Ombudsman for the Visayas for failing to submit financial statements during his term as barangay captain of Sambag 1.

“I will be reinstated on June 20. I will finalize everything once I get back to work ,” he said.

Guardo admitted bolting Team Rama in favor of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan played a key role when he decided to lead the creation of the sports tourism program.

“I noticed there was a deadlock (in the City Council) and you cannot implement a program when you do not have the support of the majority. As a sportsman, my campaign promise was that I would want to focus on sports and this is what I am doing now,” said Guardo, who had been appointed by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña as deputy mayor for sports.

“Mayor Tom is very excited with this program and I want to thank him for his support,” Guardo said.