■ WITH 144 GOLDS, CEBU CITY WINS 25TH CVIRAA CROWN
DepEd Cebu City credits team effort for 25th straight overall Cviraa title in City of Naga Cebu Province elated over second place finish, says province-wide program helped athletes
The Cebu City Niños earned their 25th straight overall title in the 2017 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa), which some 7,800 athletes from 13 divisions joined in the City of Naga. Cebu City won 144 gold medals, 64 silver medals, and 77 bronze medals. “The win was an overall effort of the coaches and athletes. It takes practice to achieve what Cebu City did,” said Cebu City sports coordinator Zenaida Gocotano, who’s on her last stint in the Cviraa after 16 years.
The win was an overall effort of the coaches and athletes. It takes practice to achieve what Cebu City did. ZENAIDA GOCOTANO DepEd Cebu City sports coordinator
The Cebu City Niños officially bagged their 25th straight overall title in the 2017 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) which concluded yesterday at Enan Chiong Activity Center (Ecac) in Naga.
Cebu City accumulated 144 gold medals, 64 silver medals and 77 bronze medals in the meet that covered the secondary and elementary divisions. The Niños garnered 102 gold medals, 39 silvers and 46 bronzes in the secondary division, and had a 4225-31 medal haul in the elementary class.
The Niños dominated all the medal-rich events like gymnastics (34-18-13), swimming (32-1817), taekwondo (15-1-5), athletics (14-7-15) and archery (14-3-5) were dominated by the Niños.
The Niños also got most of the medals in badminton (8-0-1), wrestling (7-0-0), arnis (3-6-8), tennis (3-0-1), chess (2-1-2), football (2-0-0), basketball (2-0-1), table tennis (2-3-1), volleyball (11-2), softball (1-0-0) and sepak takraw (1-0-0).
“The win was an overall effort of the coaches and athletes. It takes practice to achieve what Cebu City did (winning for 25 consecutive years),” said Cebu City sports coordinator Zenaida Gocotano, who’s on her last stint in the Cviraa after 16 years.
“I’m happy to be part of this 25th victory of Cebu City. The team will be working out for the Palarong Pambansa now,” said the 65-year-old Gocotano, who’s retiring this year.
Cebu Province, meanwhile, inked its own achievement with a notable emergence, taking overall second place with 37-4147 medal tally. Cebu Province finished fourth last year with 28 gold medals.
Cebu Province garnered 2523-31 medal tally in the elementary division, while secondary athletes added 12-18-25. It was the athletics that gave Cebu Province a needed boost as it won a total of 18 gold medals.
“I talked to Governor (Hilario Davide III) already about the outcome of the 2017 Cviraa and he’s happy about it. We are proud that the athletes did their best during the competitions, leading to our improved ranking,” said Atty. Ramil Abing, the Cebu Province Sports Commission (CPSC) executive director. “That was our aim to be at least in the second place. I think our support to the Department of Education (Deped) province through our grassroots development program helped a lot in this achievement.”
Before the Cviraa competition, the CPSC conducted a province-wide grassroots program in various sports. The grassroots program, involving coaches’ training and athletes’ development, boosted the preparation of 600 players for Cviraa.
“We have more medals now than last year so we congratulate all the athletes and the DepEd province officials. We will give our support through training to all our athletes who will be competing in the Palarong Pambansa,” said Abing.
Last year’s second placer Mandaue City dropped to third overall with a 29-49-47 medal tally, while Bohol Province (25-3875) fell to fourth place and LapuLapu City (23-35-35) was fifth.
Tagbilaran City (21-20-25), Danao City (17-30-25), host City of Naga (7-9-19), Talisay City (6-1314) and Bogo City (6-4-10) rounded up the overall Top 10.
The Top 3 in the secondary division are Cebu City (102-3946), Mandaue City (21-39-18) and Cebu Province (12-18-25), while Cebu City (42-25-31), Cebu Province (25-23-22) and Bohol Province (14-19-26) in the elementary class.
Meanwhile, Naga City Chief of Police Supt. Gregorio Galsim said that the event was successful and peaceful. He said that they deployed about 176 policemen in the billeting areas and sporting venues.
City of Naga administrator Engr. Arthur Villamor said that hosting the Cviraa for straight two years was all worth it.
“For next year, the City of Naga will not bid to host Cviraa. I think it’s good to spread the hosting to other places also,” he said. “It was a pleasure to host the event for two years and we were able to show the culture of Naga. We also showed that Naga is a business-friendly place, peaceful and livable. By hosting the event, our sports facilities and athletes have improved as well,” added Villamor.
The 2017 Cviraa had 7,800 athletes from 13 divisions.