12th Thirsty bootfest draws record out-of-town entries

CEBU, Philippines - A record field of 30 out-of-town entries will see action in the 12th Thirsty Football Cup set to kick off on Friday at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Leading the cast of contenders from outside Cebu are the Manila-based Loyola Meralco Spark’s youth squad, Xavier School of Manila, Ateneo de Davao, San Carlos City, Southshielf, San Carlos City, Beacon Academy, Santa Barbara, Iloilo, Escalante, Silliman University, Gardenville of Bacolod, Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Manila Soccer Academy, St.Scholastica of Bacolod, and Tacloban.

The Thirsty Juices and Shakes-bankrolled event has decided to sponsor the Tacloban Pintados, a group of young players who were affected by the super typhoon Yolanda in 2013, while a team from Bantayan Island will also be joining in the competition.

Tournament director Chad Songalia said in press conference yesterday at Sushi Boy across Bright Academy that they had to limit the number of teams to avoid delays of game schedules.

Overall, a total of 200 teams will take part in the annual tilt, with the men’s open drawing 32 participating clubs.

“This is our contribution to sports development and health consciousness for a better Philippines,” said Bunny Pages, chairman and CEO of Pages Holding Inc.

The festival-type event features 13 categories with the lower brackets including the under 7, 9, and 11 being a mixed category, while the all-boys division has the under-13, 15, 18, 23, 38-above and men’s open.

The rest are the girls 15, 18, 23 and women’s open.

The organizers decided to scrap the under-19 age group and replaced it with the under-23 in line with the international standards and classification.

There is no separate class for inter-BPO and inter-company, but some of them are competing under men’s open. — Caecent No-ot Magsumbol (FREEMAN)