Huge cash bounty at stake in Gov's Cup volleyball tilt

The provincial government of Cebu is shelling out huge cash prizes for the winners of the Governor's Cup Volleyball Tournament set to kick off on February 18 at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex.

The grand champion of the 18-Under grassroots tilt will pocket P300,000, while the second to fourth placers will receive P200,000, P100,000, and P50,000 respectively.

A total of 29 local government units (LGUs) will vie for supremacy. Seventeen teams come from the North, while the remaining 12 are from the South division. Each team is clustered accordingly.

The North Cluster 1 is composed of Mandaue City, Cordova, Consolacion, Liloan and San Francisco, and Poro in Camotes Island. Danao City, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod, Asturias, and Balamban are under Cluster 2, while Santa Fe, Medellin, Bogo City, Tabogon, and Tuburan are in Cluster 3.

In the South bracket, the Cluster 1 challengers are Talisay City, Minglanilla, Carcar City, and Argao. Cluster 2 is composed of Dalaguete, Oslob, Santander, Samboan and Ginatilan, while Alegria, Moalboal, and Dumanjug make up Cluster 3.

Aside from the grand prize, the province will also give cash incentives to the top two teams in each division who will advance to the quarters and semifinal round. The top two quarterfinalists will receive P30,000 and P20,000, while the top two semifinalists will get another P40,000 and P30,000.

Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) Executive Director Ramil Abing said the event is going to be exciting and it is something that all Cebuano volleyball enthusiasts should look forward to.

"I am very happy because there are a lot of teams who joined the tournament. Our primary aim here is to expose the kids from the grassroots to the big tournaments for them to further develop their skills in the sport," said Abing.

Oslob and Dalaguete will slug it out in the opening match. The rest of the games pit Poro versus Cordova, and Mandaue against San Francisco.