Beach volley tilt eyed

Despite the absence of schedules for sponsored Sinulog sports events, Cebu City is expected to host a beach volleyball tournament within this month.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) beach volleyball consultant Eric Lecain, in a text message to Cebu Daily News yesterday, said they are finalizing schedules late this month for a beach volleyball tournament.

“As I have heard, this year there are no sponsored sporting events for the Sinulog,” Lecain said. “However, after speaking with Cebu City Sports Center manager Ricky Ballesteros, we came up with a plan to have a beach volleyball tournament anyway.”

Lecain said he’s hoping they can stage the tournament in the last week of this month. “We will try and set the exact dates at the CCSC.”

Beach volleyball has gained a lot of ground in the city following the successful PSC-sponsored Women’s Beach Volleyball League last Nov. 26, 2013 at the Plaza Independencia sand court.

The tournament is said to have elicited “a huge boost in the beach volleyball program in Cebu.”

In fact, because of that tournament, the Cebu City Sports Commission promised to construct another sand court at the venue to accommodate more participants in upcoming tournaments this year.

CCSC chairman Edward Hayco revealed to Cebu Daily News earlier that due to the huge number of turnouts in the PSC Women’s Beach Volleyball League, they will create more sand courts at Fort San Pedro.

Hayco has said before that the future of beach volleyball in Cebu is very bright and that the new Cebu teams are making plans to join the Pro Asia League and the Olympic qualifiers.