Mandaue seniors get active with gateball

Rosalia Flores takes aim during the 8th Mayor’s Cup Inter-Barangay Gateball Tournament held at Mandaue City Bridge Park. (CDN PHOTO/NORMAN V. MENDOZA)

Eighty-year-old Rosalia Flores of barangay Alang-Alang, Mandaue City has played gateball for four years, seeing action with her team in Manila, Pampanga and Macau.

“Paminaw nako morag motaas-taas pa akong kinabuhi kay sige man mi exercise ug lingaw kayo ang duwa nga haum para sa mga seniors (I think the sport will make me live longer because we exercise and the game is very enjoyable for  seniors),” Flores said.

Nearly 200 seniors participated in the 8th Mayor’s Cup Inter-Barangay Gateball Tournament held at the Mandaue City Bridge Park.

Boy Barz, president of the Mandaue-Japan Gateball Association and Engr. Ricardo Mendoza of the Mandaue City Sports Commission spearheaded the event that was divided into three categories and participated in by youths and seniors.

“Amo ning gituyo ang mixture of seniors and the youth kay aron mapasa sab ngadto sa kabatan-onan ang maong duwa (We intended to mix the seniors and the youths so the game can be passed on to the youth),” Barz told Cebu Daily News.

Gateball is a fast paced, non-contact mallet team sport similar to croquet in which participants hit plastic balls with mallets through gates.

Barz said the game was launched in Mandaue City in 2007 by visiting gateball officials from Japan.

The Japanese officials started the game for the seniors with only seven teams and the game now has 29 teams composed of youths and seniors.

This year’s event  will be played during Saturdays and Sundays at the Gateball Court at Mandaue Bridge Park below Marcelo Fernan Bridge and it ends on May 15.

Prizes for each category will be P5,000, P4,000, P3,000, P2,000 and P1,000 for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth place respectively.