The Central Visayas delegation, led by its president, Father Vicente L. Uy (left most, first row), who is also the PRISAA National chairman, during the opening ceremony of the multisporting meet in Davao City. CDN Digital photo Mars G. Alison
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Central Visayas’ quest for a four-peat in the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) National Games begins Monday, May 20, 2019 as competitions in various sporting events go underway in various venues here.
PRISAA national chairman and PRISAA Central Visayas president Father Vicente L. Uy said that he is confident that Region 7 will be able to clinch its fourth straight overall title in the multi-sporting event for college and senior high students.
“Based on the commitment of our athletes sa Region 7, I think we have a good chance to win again the championship this year, this will be the fourth time if ever, so four-peat,” said Father Uy.
Central Visayas had a chance to go four-peat in 2014 in Tagum but was denied by Western Visayas.
The 420-Central Visayas delegation joined the about 7,000 college and senior high students from Regions 1 to 16 in Sunday’s, May 19, 2019, opening ceremonies at the University of Mindanao (UM) Matina campus.
Special guests were Philippine Sports Commission chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez and PSC commissioners Charles Raymond Maxey and Celia Kiram.
Some members of the CV women’s volleyball team composed of players from the University of San Carlos. CDN Digital photo | Mars G. Alison
Forming the bulk for the Central Visayas delegation numbering 300 are athletes from Cebu or the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) as they dominated the regional finals held in Bohol last February.
They are joined by about 100 from Bohol and four from Dumaguete.
Last year, Central Visayas took its third straight title with a total medal count of 143-65-53 then finished second overall in the inaugural youth division with 57-27-14.
Prior to last year, previous PRISAA games only had one division—collegiate but with the implementation of the K-12, a youth division was added.
Events that they topped last year in the senior division were basketball, boxing, men’s beach volley, football, chess, dancesport, swimming and weightlifting.
The younger Central Visayas athletes ruled in weightlifting and volleyball.
Central Visayas will be represented mostly by University of the Visayas (UV) in men’s basketball, boxing and beach volleyball men, and by University of San Carlos (USC) in football and taekwondo poomsae.
The Warriors will also form the bulk of athletics, badminton men, chess, dancesport, karatedo, swimming and women’s volleyball.
Table tennis will be manned solely by athletes of the University of Cebu (UC) while they will also help in athletics, badminton, chess, swimming, taekwondo and weightlifting.
University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) will man volleyball girls and boys and beach volleyball women and boys while Cebu Institute of Technology University (CITU) will help in badminton and chess. Both sports will also be represented by athletes from the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R).
Athletes from the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) will compete in swimming and weightlifting.
Athletes from Bohol will also join Central Visayas in most events especially baseball and sepak takraw.
Boholanos will be from University of Bohol (UB), Holy Name University (HNU), Bohol Institute of Technology (BIT) International College, Philippine Maritime Institute (PMI) and Mater Dei College.
Central Visayas will not be competing in
women’s basketball, softball and the newest addition—billiards.
What makes PRISAA games unique is that aside from the sporting events, it also holds academic and cultural competitions as well as Mutya ng PRISAA.
It also does not follow the Olympic medal tally, wherein only one medal is given to team sports but rather follows a modified medal tally wherein each core player gets a medal. /bmjo
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