Cebu City Niños capture 20th straight CVIRAA title

Dumaguete City—Even with the games being disrupted last Tuesday because of typhoon Pablo, the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) meet here ended as planned with Team Cebu City emerging on top after the week-long games.

Cebu City’s elementary squad finished with a total of 393.34 points while its secondary squad had 477 despite losing some of its ball games as the Niños totalled 870.34 to top the event for the 20th straight year.

Cebu Province finished at second with 471.51 points while Mandaue City bagged 326.5 points for third place. Host team Dumaguete improved from fifth to fourth place this year by scoring a total of 191.25 points while Bohol Province finished fifth with 238.25 points.

Highlighting Cebu City’s finishing kick yesterday was its win in elementary football. The Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC)-backed team won the title after beating Mandaue City, 4-0. But the combined SHS-AdC and Mandaue Technical Institute football team of Mandaue bounced back in the secondary division as it beat DBTC, 1-0, for the title.

Cebu City’s elementary tracksters also managed to finish with a win as they topped the 4x400m relay both in the boys and girls side. Cebu All in all, Cebu City’s tracksters finished with 50 points in the secondary division and 32 points in the elementary division. Cebu City also topped the secondary badminton event courtesy of the Southwestern University smashers.

The Niños still pulled off the overall win despite losing some of its ball games such as in basketball, where Mandaue City, manned by SHS-AdC, became back-to-back champions after defeating Cebu City’s University of the Visayas (UV), 90-65, in the final.

In softball, Cebu City only finished third in the girls division but its boys baseball team grabbed the crown. Cebu City’s secondary girls team also beat Mandaue City for the crown.

Mandaue City also showed off its strength in badminton as the smashers of the Banilad Elementary School of coach Eddie Estoconing beat Cebu City in the girls division and Cebu province in the boys division.

Cebu made up for its losses by topping the elementary table tennis competition and taekwondo elementary and secondary divisions. The Niños’ elementary woodpushers placed first and second in the boys and girls divisions, respectively.

The winners in this annual multi-sporting meet will be the basis for the selection of the Central Visayas lineup to the Palarong Pambansa, which will also be held in Dumaguete tentatively set on April 2013.

According to CVIRAA technical consultant Dr. Danilo Villadolid, the final list of athletes who will be representing Region VII will be announced on Dec. 14.

Meanwhile, Cebu Province’s Monvic Zeta won a gold medal in the 36-kilogram division in boxing division by defeating Mandaue City’s Roy King Zamora at the Robinsons Place Dumaguete while Talisay City’s John Mark Lariosa topped the 32kg division by beating Cebu Province’s John Nino Vega. Talisay City topped the secondary boys courtesy of Marco Pomar and Kit Garces in the 42kg and 44kg, respectively.

Nine-time CVIRAA champion and eight-time Palarong Pambansa elementary girls volleyball champion Catmon Central School of Cebu Province defeated Bohol Province, 25-17, 25-18, while Cebu Province’s boys volleyball team in the elementary division also topped the competition by beating also Bohol Province.