Palaro goes full blast today

LEGAZPI CITY, ALBAY, Philippines — The Central Visayas booters set up the fire for the region as games of the 59th Palarong Pambansa go full blast with the centerpiece athletics events today at the Bicol University-Albay Sports and Tourism Complex here.

CV's elementary and secondary football squads both hurdled their opening assignments on Friday night or a day before the colorful opening ceremonies yesterday.

Represented mainly by Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, Central Visayas silenced Cagayan Valley, 2-0, in the elementary division, while its secondary counterparts, powered by players from Don Bosco Technological Center, Paref-Springdale and University of Southern Philippines, dealt Eastern Visayas with the same beating.

The twin victories hopefuly will give Central Visayas a big boost as it bids to improve its worst six-place finish in the annual sports conclave for elementary and high school student-athletes last year.

All eyes, of course, are on the National Capital Region, which remains the team to beat after it won its 11th overall crown, thanks to an impressive medal harvest of 98 gold, 67 silver and 71 bronze medals.

For today's action, five golds are at stake in track and field via the secondary girls 3000m, secondary boys javelin, elementary girls shot put and secondary boys long jump.

The time trials for the century dash in all age categories will be ushered in Day One, while a simultaenous events for differently-abled athletes are also unfolding the same day.

Other events on tap are archery, arnis, basketball, badminton, chess, football, futsal, gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball, table tennis, lawn tennis, wushu and volleyball.

Boxing and taekwondo, two sports where the country has a strong chance of winning its first ever Olympic gold, are also lined up this year.

The medal-rich swimming is scheduled on Tuesday also at the main venue located inside Bicol University with a total of 16 golds at stake.

As the battle is now in full swing, DepEd Assistant Secretary Tomasito Umali said they are expecting more records to be broken this year.

Umali said they will also be evaluating all demonstration sports whether they will be elevated as a regular sporting event or be scrapped in next year's edition. The demo sports are billiards, girls sepak takraw, wrestling, wushu, and futsal.

Umali further disclosed that they are mulling on the inclusion of SPED's medal output in the overall tally since they are not included in the Palaro leaderboard.—with reports from Philippine STAR News Service (FREEMAN)