CCSC head Hayco eyeing bigger and massive Bakbakan program this year

AFTER a successful premier edition, the prime movers of the Bakbakan sa Sugbu Grassroots Sports Development Program are eyeing a wider and more intensive approach to the free clinics aimed towards the development of the Cebuano athletes.

Cebu City Sports Commission chairman Edward Hayco told Cebu Daily News recently that this year’s Bakbakan program will be bigger compared to its maiden edition.

“We are firming up the free summer grassroots program. It will be more massive this year. We will have monthly Bakbakan grassroots tournaments at the Cebu City Sports Institute for mixed martial arts, arnis, weightlifting, karatedo, boxing, chess, table tennis, archery, dancesports and other sporting events,” said Hayco.

He likewise underscored the effectiveness of the program as two products of Bakbakan recently broke records in the Batang Pinoy-Philippine National Youth Games National Finals in Bacolod City.

During the multi-event Batang Pinoy-PNYG Nationals last year, Bakbakan products Leonida Cambarijan and Evangelito Dale Ceniza established new records each while donning the colors of the Cebu City Niños in weightlifting.

The 15-year-old Pasil Elementary Night School student Ceniza broke the 63-kilogram record in snatch set by his older brother Jan Febuar Ceniza in the 50-kilogram weight division during the 2013 edition of the event in the same venue.

Cambarijan, for her part, set a new mark in the snatch competition as she lifted a total of 35 kilograms to break the old mark of 33 kilograms set by Jonassam Alegada of Bohol in the 2013 edition.

During last year’s edition, which was witnessed by more than a thousand spectators and participants in the opening day, weekly free clinics in MMA, arnis, weightlifting, karatedo and boxing were launched with prominent Cebuano athletes and former champions taking charge of each event.