Cebu City braces for Cviraa defense; meet launching today
PERENNIAL champion Cebu City is bracing for a battle royale as it tries to defend its overall title in the 2011 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) meet which starts on Nov. 28 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol.
Cebu City will battle 18 of the region’s competing divisions in the school-based, multi-event sports meet.
“I believe the competition this year will be more intense, with each division hoping to unseat Cebu City as overall champion,” Department of Education (DepEd) Region VII director Recaredo Borgonia told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
Borgonia also expressed confidence in the region’s chances of snatching the overall crown in next year’s Palarong Pambansa.
“Our chance is big. I have a very positive perception in our bid for the Palarong Pambansa overall crown,” said Borgonia. But he said to achieve this, focus should be trained on team sports like swimming, gymnastics and track and field which fetch higher points in the Palaro.
Meanwhile, the CVIRAA meet will be launched today in Bohol to be attended by school superintendents, committee chairpersons and members of the support committee. “It’s all systems go, but in the competitive side, we cannot tell who is going to win this year,” said Borgonia.
The regional games is expected to draw 5,000 to 6,000 basic education athletes.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Augustus “Joy” Young said that with the changes that they implemented in the recentl Cebu City Olympics, he is confident that Cebu City will retain its overall crown.
Winners in the Cebu City Olympics composed the core of the city’s representatives to the CVIRAA meet which will end on Dec. 3.
Young said he is confident that Cebu City athletes will still comprise the bulk of the region’s delegation to next year’s Palarong Pambansa to be held in Laguna as he reiterated the region’s main mission in the national games.
“The goal is still for Central Visayas to become No.1 in the Palaro,” Young said. He also revealed that they have already forged an agreement with the DepEd to come up with a solution to last year’s problems regarding the team’s preparations.
