Cebu will play host to a cultural and sporting bonanza as the Asia Pacific University Games (APUG) 2017 makes its way here on Dec. 6 to 11.
A delegation from Malaysia and China are set to arrive as they compete against the best schools in Cebu in four different sports. These are basketball, which will be held at the Cebu Coliseum; badminton at the Racket Zone; lawn tennis at Citi Green and table tennis at the Robinson’s Galleria.
Malaysia, which will be represented by a 35-man contingent from the Malaysia Universiti Teknologi MARA, and China, which will be represented by Jiangxi Provincial Pingxiang Experimental School, will both compete in the basketball tournament.
“With this tournament, we hope to foster camarederie and build relationships, not just in sports but also in academics,” said Lawyer Baldomero Estenzo, the chief organizer of the event.
He talked about the multi-sport event at the SCOOP Forum at the Cebu Country Club Tennis Clubhouse. The tournament managers of the sporting events along with coaches and officials of the local participating schools joined him there.
Aside from the international schools, bannering the local front are the University of the Visayas (UV), the University of Cebu (UC), the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), University of San Carlos (USC) and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF).
The basketball tournament, which begins on December 6 and will last until the 11th, will have the UV Green Lancers, the USJ-R Jaguars, the USPF Panthers, the USC Warriors and the teams from Malaysia and China.
Teams will play a single round-robin with the top two squads advancing to the championship game.
“This will be a good experience for the new lineup of ours,” said Warriors consultant and local legend, Julian Macoy.
USPF, represented by Panthers team manager, Brian Jereza, said it was an honor to compete against teams from different countries.
“We can compare how they play basketball with how we do it here. It’s a good experience for the team and the school,” Jereza said.
The Green Lancers is taking the tournament as a run-up to their upcoming campaign in the Philippine Collegiate Champions League.
Estenzo also shed light as to why the UC Webmasters are not competing in the basketball wars.
“Being the tournament manager, I just wanted to stay away from any unnecessary comments regarding bias or anything like that. Besides, UC is well represented in the other sports,” the longtime UC sports official explained.
The APUG kicks off with an opening ceremony on Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. at the Cebu Coliseum. Opening the tournament will be Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines president, David Ong.
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