Cebu Province will miss a key team that would likely win a medal in the upcoming Batang Pinoy National Finals.
This after Cebu Province basketball team assistant coach Van Halen Parmis said its boys basketball squad will withdraw from the national finals of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)-backed under-15 meet slated September 18 to 25 in Baguio City.
Cebu Province’s basketball team is touted to be one of the best squads in the meet since most of its players are members of the varsity teams of schools playing in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi).
Ironically, it is because of the conflict of schedule with the Cesafi that most of its players can’t compete in the multisporting meet.
“We cannot compete in Batang Pinoy because most of our players are competing for their respective schools and universities in the Cesafi,” said Parmis.
The Cesafi, Cebu’s premier collegiate multisporting league, starts its 18th season on August 25 with the basketball competition going first.
Cebu Province dominated boys’ basketball in the Batang Pinoy Visayas Qualifying meet last November by edging Mandaue City, 64-58, in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
The Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) has yet to release its revised total number of athletes following the withdrawal of the boys’ basketball team.
Out of the 27 sporting events lined up in the Batang Pinoy National Finals, Cebu Province will be competing in 12. These are athletics, badminton, boxing, baseball, chess, lawn tennis, softball, triathlon, futsal, taekwondo, karatedo, and arnis.