5th Mayor Jonas Cortes sports festival gets underway on March 3

CEBU, Philippines - Several sporting events will be contested in the 5th Mayor Jonas Cortes Cup set to unfold on March 3 at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex.

These are basketball, badminton, chess, amateur boxing, volleyball, table tennis, lawn tennis, softball and fun run.

Basketball features four divisions:13-under, 17-under, seniors A for current varsity and commercial cagers and seniors B for inactive commercial and former varsity players.

Competition in lawn tennis, on the other hand, will be under the men's open, juniors, inter-club, veterans and special category.

Meanwhile, athletes from 27 barangays comprising Mandaue City will gather for the opening ceremony, which will be highlighted by the cheerdance contest.

The multi-sport athletic meet is aimed at scouting for athletes who are potential enough to represent the city in major tournaments here and abroad in the future.

In volleyball, it's the basis for the selection of Mandaue athletes for the annual Governor Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup.

Aside from the open category, volleyball also has the 18-under and 13-under classes. - THE FREEMAN