43 teams to join Guv. Unity Cup

Around 43 municipalities here in Cebu have confirmed its participation in the 1st Governor's Unity Volleyball Cup, which is set to blast off on September 21 at the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex.

The Cebu Volleyball Association (CEVA), which is organizing the event, said each municipality should field in only resident players.

Nona Catipay, the technical committee chairman, said each player must submit either a barangay certificate, voter's ID, or SK I D (in case of players below 18 years old) and a sworn statement of the mayor duly authorizing the person as a resident of the municipality to ensure the eligibility of the player.

Failure to heed the requirements will mean automatic disqualification in the tournament.

All players are required to wear their ID during the general assembly on September 7 at Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex to avoid discrepancy and switching of players.

CEVA has assured all the teams will be billeted during the general assembly, especially those coming from distant towns. Meals will be provided.

The tournament, which is targeted to finish by December will follow a single round robin format, depending of the number of teams in each cluster.

Vice President for operations Jun San Juan said the clustering of teams would be made only after the final submission of entries on August 31.

"The clustering will also be based not only in districts but also in the proximity of the area," said San Juan.

The games will be played three days in one weekend per cluster.

"This is the biggest tournament so far in terms of organization and price money. We hope they will not put any political color to this," said CEVA president Glen Soco.

A hefty P100,000 purse will be brought home by the champion in the provincial meet while the runner-up will get P50,000.

Each cluster who will fight for the championship which will take home P20,000 and the runner-up will get.

Each team will be provided with two balls and a net by CEVA.

It will also give special citations to the best libero, best spiker, best setter, best blocker and MVP.