Young hits Tiukinhoy for last year’s Cesafi, City Olympics sked conflict

ANOTHER scheduling conflict could imperil the Cebu City Olympics, the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) and eventually, the Palarong Pambansa next year.

This after Cebu City Vice Mayor Augustus “Joy” Young again hit the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) for the latter’s failure to reschedule some of their basketball games last year which denied some of its teams to participate in the crucial rounds of the Cebu City Olympics, the qualifying tournament for the CVIRAA and the Palarong Pambansa.

“I refuse to coordinate with the Cesafi. I don’t recognize (Felix) Tiukinhoy. Maghimo mi ug amoang schedule and balaod. We don’t need them. We have announced our schedule and sila na ang musunod ana. Dako jud kaayo ko ug pagmahay sa Cesafi especially since the city should come first, not the schools and universities,” said Young during his press conference yesterday regarding the sporting activities of the Department of Education.

Cesafi commissioner Felix “Boy” Tiukinhoy, though, said that they are very much open to cooperating with the DepEd and the Cebu City government in order to smoothen the schedule for the benefit of all the parties involved.

“I just wish that they would tell us what they want first before issuing such statements and before saying anything. They should tell us what they want and we’ll see what we can do. We are very much willing to coordinate with them. In fact, I have a meeting with all the athletic directors tomorrow (today) to hash out all these things. We have also set the schedules for the Cesafi tournament but we’ll see what happens,” said Tiukinhoy.

In order to avoid such an occurrence from happening again, Young along with the DepEd, will make a team comprised of standouts from the inter-public school tournament set to open on August 20 (see-separate story). The champion will then compete against teams from private schools during the Cebu City Olympics.

It was also announced yesterday that the Cebu City Olympics (CCO) will be staged on Oct. 16-21 and the CVIRAA on Nov. 27 until Dec. 2 in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. In addition, 12 more units will be added to the already existing nine, bringing the field to a whopping 21 in the CCO. The 12 units will be the private schools that are joining which will be counted as one unit each, provided they join in at least five events.

DepEd Regional Director, Recaredo Borgonia also denied rumors that the Palarong Pambansa will be scrapped in favor of it becoming a biennial event, saying that during a recent meeting with his counterparts from the other regions, it was announced that the national tournament will be held in Luzon next year and Visayas after that.

And in order to ensure that they are sending the best athletes, he is coordinating with Young to make sure that the evaluation of athletes will be done properly.  Correspondent Jonas Panerio