CEBU CITY, Philippines – About 600 collegiate and senior high student-athletes will converge here as the regional finals of the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) will finally push through this weekend, March 7-8, 2020 in different venues.
This regional selection for Central Visayas’ representatives to the PRISAA national final was supposed to be held last February 8 and 9 but was rescheduled due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) threat.
Aside from Cebu City which will be represented by the best teams of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) Season 19, other delegations are from Bohol and Dumaguete.
Some 240 student-athletes will be coming from Bohol and just 12 from Dumaguete City.
According to Bernard Ricablanca, deputy secretary-general for PRISAA-7, they won’t be holding an opening ceremony in observance of a directive to avoid crowds as a preventive measure against COVID-19.
Instead, student-athletes are just directed to go directly to the venues of their respective sporting events.
To be held at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) are athletics, boxing, football, and swimming. Badminton, taekwondo, and chess will be contested at the University of San Carlos (USC) while karatedo will be held at the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R).
Volleyball and beach volleyball will be played at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), tennis at the Citigreen Tennis Resort, table tennis at the Cebu Coliseum and dancesport at the Cebu Doctors University.
Regular basketball and the 3×3 version will be held next weekend though as Cebu representatives, Cesafi Season 19 runner-up University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, are currently in Manila for the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) National Collegiate Championship wherein they are one of the semifinalists.
Cesafi Season 19 basketball champions, Southwestern University (SWU) Phinma Cobras, are not joining because the university is not a member of the PRISAA.
Weightlifting, on the other hand, will no longer hold regional eliminations and will just directly be contested in the national finals in April in Tuguegarao.
While Cebu and Bohol will be contesting in all events, Dumaguete, represented by 12 students from Colegio de Santa Catalina de Alejandria (COSCA) will be competing only in karatedo and chess. /rcg