CVIRAA in Bohol
Cebu City will be well prepared to defend its title in the upcoming Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) on February 24 to March 2 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.
Newly installed Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Division Sports Coordinator Francis Ramirez said he feels confident the team will be able to perform well in the annual multi-sporting meet that serves as a qualifying tournament for the Central Visayas team that will compete in the Palarong Pambansa.
Cebu City is undefeated in the Cviraa for the past 25 years.
Ramirez, who took his seat at the DepEd Cebu City office last July, replacing Zenaida Gocotano, feels ecstatic that Cebu City Councilor Joy Augustus Young has finally given them the go signal to compete in the meet.
Young earlier said he would not allow Cebu City athletes to compete in the Cviraa this year because he was unsatisfied with the way the DepEd Regional office heads managed the Region VII team in the Palarong Pambansa last year in San Jose, Antique.
“Everything’s fine now. We already have the go signal from Councilor Young,” Ramirez said.
He also revealed that the Cebu City athletes continued to train even when Young said he would ban then from joining this year’s meet. This means they are still in tip-top shape for the competition.
“Contrary to what many thought, our athletes continued training right after Cebu City Olympics [even after] Councilor Young announced that we will not compete. So the training was not affected. I believe that our athletes are fully prepared for this meet,” Ramirez said.
26 straight
The Niños accumulated a total of 144 gold medals, 64 silver medals and 77 bronze medals from secondary and elementary competition last year. This year’s delegation will be 868 strong, with 598 of that number composed of the athletes.
The Niños will be going up against strong contenders in Central Visayas such as Cebu Province, Bohol Province, Dumaguete, Mandaue City, among others.
Ramirez is confident the team can cruise to its 26th straight title.
“We will try to extend our reign to 26 years, especially since our athletes have trained hard for this. We focused [our training] on the sports that we are weak in,” Ramirez added, citing elementary athletics as one of the areas they were struggling in last year.
Cebu Province, meanwhile, will be sending a massive delegation of 850 delegates, 538 are athletes.
Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) Executive Director Atty. Ramil Abing said hopes are high for the team, which is aiming to do better this year.
“The unified training have capped off already and they were able to practice for more than two weeks. I hope it was enough to make us say they are well-prepared,” Abing said. “But they are ready for the competition. We have high expectation that they can do well and surpass our highest performance.”
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