Cebu City Ninos jubilate after being declared the official overall champions of the 2016 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) meet at the Enan Chiong Activity Center in the City of Naga. It was the 24th straight overall title for the powerhouse Ninos. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)
City of Naga — After a week of torrid athletic competition and some uneasy moments, the Cebu City Niños are back in familiar turf –at the top– of the 2016 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) meet which officially closed here, yesterday.
And while they remain kings of the regional games, their grip on the coveted hardware has been continuously challenged over the years.
After winning 115 gold medals en route to topping the meet last year, the Niños saw their harvest dip to 113 this year, a record low and an alarming trend for a proud team which has dominated every CVIRAA meet the past 24 years.
The Niños also collected 71 silver medals and 59 bronzes and was still comfortably ahead of their closest pursuer.
According to Zenaida Gocotano, the DepEd Cebu City Division Sports Coordinator, the Niños averaged 150 gold medals in previous CVIRAAs. But this has been greatly challenged by other squads who made giant strides in their respective sports programs forcing the Niños to concede some events which has previously been their traditional goldmine.
NEW CHALLENGERS
Bohol Province and Talisay City are prime examples. The two teams managed to dislodge the Niños from medal-rich events athletics at the Teodoro Mendiola Sr. Oval and Sports Field and swimming at the Cebu City Aquatics Center forcing the latter to rely on gymnastics, taekwondo and ball games.
Bohol Province which finished third overall with 136 medals (31-40-65) swept the elementary and secondary track and field titles shocking the Niños while in swimming, Talisay City upended the Niños 19-17 in gold medals won.
The Niños however, kept their heads above water by winning 25 gold medals in gymnastics and 17 in taekwondo. They also dominated most team events like lawn tennis, basketball, volleyball, table tennis and chess.
The Niños basketball team manned by the University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers pummeled Bohol Province, 106-62 in the secondary final with Jancork Cabahug winning MVP honors. Cebu City likewise ruled elementary basketball after escaping Cebu Province, 61-56 with Reinhard Jumamoy named MVP.
The Niños also ruled secondary football, beating Bohol Province, 4-1 with Ivan Ouano scoring a hat trick. However, they lost the elementary gold to Cebu Province, 0-1.
Cebu City also won three golds in boxing courtesy of Eduardo Jimenez Jr. (light mosquitoweight), Jay Tanudra (light paperweight) and Nicole James Ramos (pinweight). Other boxing winners were Gaudfrey Lubiano of Cebu Province (mosquito weight) and Rholdan Sasan of Bohol Province (youth boys classification).
Meanwhile, Mandaue City retained its second place finish with 136 medals (47-42-47), Cebu Province finished fourth with 109 medals (28-36-45) and Lapu-lapu City placed fifth with 77 medals (21-30-36).
The next part will be to prepare for the Palarong Pambansa and hope to replicate the region’s third place finish in 2013.
“We will be very strict with our training for the Palaro especially for Cebu City athletes. We will be housing them together in the entire training period,” Gocotano said.
Last year, Central Visayas finished sixth overall in Tagum City, Davao, its worst in the Palaro.
BITTERSWEET HOSTING
Meanwhile, Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong thanked the DepEd for chosing his city as this year’s host saying he received a lot of encouraging feedbacks despite the unfortunate robbery incident. (see separate story on this page)
“I think I would be very biased if I say it’s a hundred percent successful. But I am very happy because I received a lot of good compliments even from visiting delegations. I think they are all satisfied with our hosting,” said Chiong. “I even prayed to all the saints to make our hosting successful.”
The City of Naga allocated P8.3 Million for hosting the meet. The city’s athletes however, could only come up with a meager harvest of three gold medals, all from track and field. Chiong though remains optimistic that his athletes will be a major force in the future as they now have their own rubberized oval and an Olympic-sized pool.
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