Inclusion of teams from Iloilo, Bacolod expected to make competition stiffer

The Visayas Region’s bid for the prestigious Perpetual Trophy starts today as around 6,000 athletes coming from the region’s schools and universities compete in the 16th Milo Little Olympics-Visayas Regional Finals in various venues in Cebu City.

The official opening will be held at the Cebu City Sports Center starting at 1 p.m. to be highlighted by the search for the best muse and the cheerdance competition. The annual multi-sporting event will run for two weekends starting today until Aug 21.

With the inclusion of swimming and football powerhouse teams from Iloilo and Bacolod, Visayas’ lineup for this year’s National Finals is expected to be tougher.

The Milo National Little Olympics is slated Nov. 12, 13 and 14 in Linggayen, Pangasinan. The Visayas is the two-time defending champion in the Nationals. But it almost lost its title to the National Capital Region last year as it managed to escape with just a 16.5-point lead in the overall standing.

Visayas Delegation head Ricky Ballesteros said he hopes this won’t happen again.

“We were lucky that NCR was not able to come up with full lineup in gymnastics. That would have been the reason we lost our title to them,” said Ballesteros during yesterday’s launching at the conference room of the CCSC.

The Visayas will still be considered lucky this year since the Philippine team athletes from NCR won’t be able to compete in the national finals because of their stint in the Southeast Asian Games, which is also slated this November.

Still, the Visayas team isn’t taking any chances.

The winners in the Regionals will represent the Visayas in the Nationals.

According to Ballesteros, Iloilo is a strong contender in the swimming competition while Bacolod is capable of beating Cebu’s booters as both are veterans in the Palarong Pambansa

The addition of Bacolod, Iloilo and schools from Negros Occidental and Maasin City could make a big difference in Visayas’ performance in the National Finals.

Milo sports executive Patricio Goc-Ong said the increase in the number of teams is an effect of the region’s serious bid for a third straight national title.

“All of the athletes are suddenly interested of competing because of the glory and honor it can bring to their school,” said Goc-Ong.

“It’s better that Team Visayas has a mind-set of being the underdog against NCR because it will motivate and improve their performance,” added Goc-Ong.