Points system to determine team champs

The Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Office decided to use the conventional general points system to determine the winners in the 23rd Cebu City Olympics slated Nov. 6 to 10 at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).

DepEd officials believe that using the points system will make the annual school-based, multi-sports meet more fair.

“There are pros and cons when using the old medal count system,” technical director and consultant Danilo Villadolid said during the event’s launching at the CCSC yesterday. “In the points system, we can say that it will be effective and fair to all of the competing schools because we can give points until the fourth placers.”

With Villadolid in the launching were DepEd Supervisor Dr. Fabiolito Alberca, DepEd Cebu City division sports coordinator Zenaida Gocotano, organizer Ricky Ballesteros and tournament directors of the 24 events.

WUSHU, WRESTLING, BILLIARDS

According to Villadolid, the first option that DepEd looked into was the modified medal count, wherein winners will be determined on how many medals they get regardless if these were gold, silver or bronze medals. This isn’t like the olympic-style medal count where teams with the most number of gold medals win.

Meanwhile, wrestling, wushu and billiards will debut this year with the first two having minimal participation.

According to wushu tournament director Ernesto Vergara, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) is the only school with a wushu team which will perform in Wednesday’s opening day.

Wrestling chief Roland Rondez cannot confirm the exact number of competitors in the sport.

In billiards, Omar Ylanan said they will only be holding secondary boys and girls competition in a single 9-ball format while boxing tournament director Efren Tabanas said they will be using a 10-point scoring system. Elementary boxing was also scrapped in compliance with Republic Act 10588 or the Palarong Pambansa Act of 2013, according to Gocotano.

SAFETY FIRST

Ballesteros said the safety of everyone in the meet will be their top priority.

He said each tournament director has already assigned safety officers who will handle crowd control should there be another earthquake.

“Safety is our top priority,” Ballesteros said. “All of the playing venues have already been inspected by civil engineers and they marked them safe but we still decided to appoint safety officers for each event.”

Around 2,200 athletes coming from the eight member schools of the Cesafi will be joining along with the different units from the southern and northern districts of Cebu City.

Although the opening will still be tomorrow, football and swimming will kick off today due to the large number of participants for these events.