Guardo eyes more aqua sports events to be held in Cebu City
Organizers of the 1st Cebu City Dragonboat Festival, including Cebu City councilor Jerry Guardo (fourth from right), gather after press conference for the 1st Cebu City Dragonboat Festival at the Quest Hotel Cebu. CDN PHOTO/Ray Charlie Diaz
In the hopes of fulfilling a dream to make Cebu City the country’s sports hub, Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo is pushing for more aqua sports to be held in the seas off the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City.
In a press conference for the first-ever Cebu City Dragonboat Festival yesterday, Guardo, the chairman for Youth and Sports Development, said aqua sports may be an avenue to bring in more international events.
“I have always dreamt of making Cebu City the sports hub of this country,” Guardo said during the press conference at the Quest Hotel Cebu. “I will bring aqua sports to the SRP. In the long run, maybe we can host an international event.”
Guardo was in the press conference since the Cebu City government is supporting the Cebu City Dragonboat festival slated 16-17 at the Il Corso, Citta de Mare. Also supporting the race is the Cebu City Sports Commission.
The dragonboat race will be handled by the Kabya Bisayas, a dragonboat race organizer and technical group from Siquijor, Bohol and Negros Oriental.
Seven dragon boat teams from Cebu have already showed interest in joining the event. Another seven from Negros Oriental, seven from Bohol, one from Siquijor, the Philippine Navy of Luzon and the Bakunawa Dragonboat Team of Iligan are also expected to compete.
The event will be featuring 300-meter races for men, women and mixed.
Race Director Paultom Paraz said that the venue has already been inspected by their group last January and they found it more suitable than expected for the upcoming event.
Chinatown
Guardo also plans to hold dragonboat races anually.
“We are looking forward to building a Chinatown here in Cebu City. Every Chinese New Year, we will be adding the dragonboat race to its agenda,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guardo shared that a grassroots training for dragonboat will be held after the racce.
“We were very much inspired by the Philippine Accessible Disability Services (PADS) Inc. Because even though they are differently abled, they still won and gives pride to the Cebuanos,” he said.
Registration for the race is still going on until June 3. Interested participants may contact Naty Oson at 0908-718-6427.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
