A glimpse of Gov’s Cup action in Mayor Apura Basketball Cup

Carcar City Mayor Nice Apura (seated, center) with some of the city and tournament officials for the upcoming 2018 Mayor Nicepuro Apura Basketball Cup to be held in Carcar City on November 4 to 10. CDN PHOTO/LITO TECON

SOME of the teams that competed in last summer’s Governor’s Cup Inter-Cities/Municipalities Basketball Tournament will be seeing action in the annual Mayor Nicepuro Apura Basketball Cup, which will be held on November 4 to 10 at the Carcar City Sports Complex in Carcar City, southern Cebu.

This will be the first time that the tournament, held in line with the celebration of the feast of its patron, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, will be featuring teams from the Governor’s Cup as it has usually invited some of Cebu’s top commercial basketball teams.

“We want to change something in our annual basketball tournament so that it will become more exciting to watch. That is why we decided to invite municipalities and cities to have a tournament just like the Governor’s Cup,” said Mayor Apura in a press conference held at the Raphael’s Sports Cafe at the SM Seaside City Cebu on Sunday. “We all know the recent Governor’s Cup was truly a crowd draw so we invited some good teams in this year’s edition of the Mayor’s Cup.”

The Gov’s Cup teams joining will be the Consolacion Sarok Weavers, Mandaue City, Argao, Sibonga Pillars, and Barili. Apura said Carcar will not field a team of its own to avoid issues.

“We don’t want to be (accused of being) biased,” said Apura.

Joining Apura in yesterday’s press conference were Carcar City Councilor Victor Ian Del Rosario, Barili councilor Julie Flores, and Mayor’s Cup commissioner Celedonio Abayata, Jr.

The opening game on November 4 will feature Mandaue City taking on the Sarok Weavers at 7 p.m. Barili and Argao will collide in the second game starting at 9 p.m.

The tournament will follow a single-round robin format to give the teams enough exposure in preparation for the next season of the Governor’s Cup.

The champion team will take home P50,000, while the runner-up will receive P30,000. Third placer gets P20,000 while the fourth placer will bag P10,000.

Aside from this basketball tournament, other sporting events to be held for the city’s fiesta celebration are an inter-barangay basketball and volleyball tournament for the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) division and 40-above division, a lawn tennis tournament and a motocross competition.