Organizers and tournament managers pose for a group photo during the launching of the 31st Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals at the SM Seaside City Cebu on Wednesday. /LITO TECSON
Organizers of the 31st Milo Little Olympics Visayas Regional Finals are open to the idea of adding weightlifting in the annual multisporting meet, especially after the success of Hidilyn Diaz in the Olympics and the Asian Games.
In the press launching of the regional meet on Wednesday at the SM Seaside City Cebu, organizers said they will consider adding more sporting events such as weightlifting if it attracts a lot of participants. Currently, there are 15 events in the meet.
“As of the moment, there are no final plans yet for additional sports,” Milo Sports Executive Lester Castillo said. “In the Milo Little Olympics NCR, we tried one sport, handball. It was a pilot sport. So far, it was not very attractive to participants. But it just shows that we are open to adding more sports later on. Weightlifting is included in one of our events that we consider,”
Diaz won a silver medal in weightlifting in the Rio Olympics in 2016 then added a gold in the Asian Games in Indonesia this year.
The Visayas regional meet kicks off Thursday with a grand opening ceremony at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) starting at 1 p.m.
The meet features 10 Olympic sports: athletics, swimming, badminton, gymnastics, table tennis, lawn tennis, taekwondo, football, basketball, and volleyball. There are also non-Olympic sports such as chess, scrabble, sepak takraw, karatedo and arnis.
Visayas Regional Finals organizer Ricky Ballesteros said that weightlifting looks promising in Cebu.
Among the noted weightlifters today from Cebu is Elreen Ann Ando, who also vied in the Asian Games but barely missed the podium, finishing fourth in her event.
“Most of the Philippine team members in weightlifting are from Cebu. It’s high time now that we develop grassroots. Hopefully, in the coming years, with the help of the Philippine Sports Commission, we can come up with a team coming from the grassroots, train them at CCSC and introduce them in the Milo Little Olympics,” said Ballesteros.
Also present during the press conference was Rose Salvallon, SM Seaside City Cebu’s assistant mall manager.
Seven sporting events will be held inside the spacious SM Seaside City Cebu. For three years since it opened its doors to the public, the mall has been one of the main venues of the Milo Little Olympics.
The seven sporting events that will be held there are gymnastics, table tennis, taekwondo, karatedo, scrabble, arnis, and chess.
Palarong Pambansa gymnastics multiple gold medalist Daniela Reggie dela Pisa will light the urn to officially start the competition.