Preferred venue

After the successful hosting of the Davis Cup tie between the Philippines and Japan last March, I thought it would be a few more years before we could again witness a similar event in our shores.

It is mainly because Cebu often gets to be only a second or even third choice by the national sports associations as host for international events.

Apparently, this has changed especially for the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (PHILTA), which brought the Philippines vs. Japan tie here.

Next month, the top players of the country will be pitting their skills against the team of Chinese-Taipei.

This is going to be group 1 battle of the Asia/Oceania Zone.

The event is set on September 16 to 18 at Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.

We have now become a preferred venue.

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After the Davis Cup in March, the court at Plantation Bay Resort and Spa did not become idle as it also became one of the attractions of the resort.

Aside from the host resort, the host city also did a pretty good job last March, which I hope would translate to more international events in other sports.

Among the local governments in Cebu, Lapu-Lapu City is the only one to have aggressively pushed sports tourism.

Although I rarely cross the two bridges to be in Mactan, this gives me another reason to be there and enjoy the action.

Last March, even the non-tennis players were there to watch. I’m sure, those who missed that one would have the event on September 16 to 18 on their sights.

See you there!

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Coach Michael Weiss of the Philippine Azkals is due in Cebu today to attend a football festival at the San Roque Parish Field organized by the Cebu Amateur Football Club.

I got word about this yesterday from Raffy Musni of the CAFC.

He said that the coach will be at the field around 3 p.m.

The CAFC is one of the clubs here that has been doing a lot to push football. 

Many of us dream of seeing the national team in the World Cup, but that could not be attained in only a few years.

We have to set goals that are reachable first like being the top of the Southeast Asian region.

That would not even be easy to do considering how our SEA neighbors treat football as their national sport, but that is more doable than aiming to make it to the World Cup.

There is no instant solution, so we need to take it one step at a time.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings go to Nath Ybañez of Wealth TV, Sharon Benavides, Marion Caryl Sauro, and Marites ‘Biko’ Ho, who are turning a year older today.

Advance greetings go to those celebrating tomorrow especially Fr. Manuel Uy, president of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu.

The same goes to Lt. Col. Sparu Morada and Junjun Baguia.

More power to all of you!