10 towns, city signify Davide Cup presence

Ten towns and one city have sent their early confirmation to join Cebu Province’s biggest province-wide developmental basketball competition—the 2017 Gov. Hilario Davide Jr. U21 Basketball Tournament tentatively slated to start by March.

Cebu Province Sports Commission (CPSC) Executive Director and Cebu Province Assistant Administrator Ramil Abing told SunStar Cebu that the confir- mations have started to pour in more than a week before the deadline set by the organizing committee.

“We already have 11 teams confirming participation with more than a week left to our agreed deadline of confirmation on Feb. 17. The deadline for the submission of line-up and documents is on March 1 yet. The confirmation was set earlier so that the Sports Commission can already present to the participating teams the tournament format and the clustering of teams by the time we will have our second and final organization meeting,” Abing clarified.

Those who have tossed their hats into the derby includes Talisay City, Sibonga, Cordova, Argao, Lilo-an, Alcoy, Sta. Fe in Bantayan Island, Catmon, Sogod, Balamban and Carmen.

More than 30 towns sent their representatives to the first organizational meeting held last Jan. 31 at the Cebu Capitol Legislative Buildings where the final guidelines were formed that suit the requirements of the participating towns and cities.

Under the final rule, the player’s eligibility is lowered to 21 years old and below, no reinforcements allowed, no varsity players, former varsity players may play, but only if he is inactive for three years, and teams may line-up a maximum of 15 players.

The Sports Commission has set aside a sizable amount of money for cash prizes and for the operations of the tournament.

The tournament will follow a home-and-away format where teams will be clustered according to the number of participating teams.

The champion will go home with a P500,000 check.