Games to start today

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines  – Action in the 3rd Milo Little Olympics (MLO) National Finals blasts off today at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center here.

The intense rivalry between Team Visayas and the National Capital Region (NCR) for the rightful owner of the 3rd Milo Little Olympics National Finals title has been felt already with the exchange of heated statements from their respective head of delegation.

The atmosphere of the Presidents Hotel’s function hall here seemed like that of a weigh-in for a boxing bout, as Ricky Ballesteros of Team Bisdaks and Dr. Robert Melton Calo of NCR were the center of attraction during the press conference yesterday.

With the aim to get the grand slam title and get the perpetual trophy back to the Queen City of the South, Ballesteros opened up by saying, “Our main goal is to bring back the trophy to its birth place!”

However, Calo, who is now NCR’s new head of delegation, answered back, “NCR is hopeful to dethrone Visayas. I know Ricky (Ballesteros) is much willing to accept it.”

Ballesteros never allowed to be left behind as he stressed on the preparations of Team Bisdaks last summer where they had trainings conducted by NCR people, which created commotion from the crowd.

“Knowing that NCR has been the perennial Palaro champions, we tried to improve our squad as we hired people from NCR to train the athletes and the coaches. They taught us on the techniques and strategies on how to win,” said Ballesteros.

He added that the support of the Department of Education (DepEd) Region VII and the Visayan communities were of great help for Team Bisdaks.

Unlike in the previous staging, this year Team Visayas was made even stronger, as the best athletes from the neighboring Visayan provinces already joined the squad in their respective sporting events.

It was only in this tournament, where Team Visayas upstaged the perennial Palarong Pambansa champions.

Last year, Team Bisdaks amassed 568 points to clinch the title for the second time around while NCR was at close second with 551.5 points.

Aside from the two rival squads, also competing in this three-day multi-sports conclave are Luzon and Mindanao squads. With the strengthened teams from the four competing regions this year, new records are expected to appear in the record books.

“I believe that our strength this year comes from the team events because we sent solid teams representing their respective schools,” said Ballesteros.

He will bank on the expertise of the football squad represented by Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC), volleyball, table tennis, sepak takraw and badminton.

Festive opening ceremonies

The 3rd MLO National Finals opened yesterday afternoon with a bang with Team Visayas spearheading the parade as the reigning champions. They graced the opening ceremonies by dancing the Sinulog Festival beat, which wowed the crowd.

Host, Lingayen Pangasinan, did not allow to be left behind as they also performed the Bangus Festival dance, being the Bangus Capital of the Philippines and the world.

The action for the 12 sporting events will start today. (FREEMAN)