CVIRAA Meet opens   in Carcar City today

CEBU, Philippines —  After some virtual and bubble-type events the past three years, the Department of Education-VII is back spearheading in-person sporting events with the staging of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet, which kicks off at the new Carcar City Sports Complex this afternoon.

The resumption of the regional event is Carcar City’s first hosting of the CVIRAA Meet.

Vice President Sara Z. Duterte had been invited to grace the event, but DepEd-7 Regional Sports Officer Tomas Pastor told The Freeman yesterday that she has other pressing matters to attend to.

Instead, Duterte, who is also the DepEd secretary, is sending Assistant Secretary for Operations and Palarong Pambansa Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas to represent her.

DepEd-7 Regional Director Salustiano Jimenez, along with other regional officials and superintendents from 20 divisions, and other government officials are also attending the opening.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and Carcar City Mayor Patricio Barcenas, on the other hand, lead the elected officials in today’s opening.

With the unpredictable weather condition, organizers decided to hold the opening late in the afternoon.

Assembly time is set at 2:30 p.m. but the program proper is expected to start at 4 p.m.

Carcar City’s best, Sinulog sa Kabataan 2023 and Sinulog sa Carmen 2023 champion, will be out to spice up the event.

Close to eight thousand delegates from all over Central Visayas are set to converge for the weeklong action. Of this number, 6,525 are athletes, 1,146 are coaches and 147 are assistant coaches. There are 111 chaperones.

Aside from that, there are also 332 delegates from Special Education seeing action.

Games will go full blast tomorrow mainly in Carcar City but badminton will be at the Naga City badminton court. Some of the tennis matches will be at the Sangat Court in San Fernando town while the artistic and rhythmic gymnastics will be held at the Gymnastics Academy in Labangon, Cebu City.

The CVIRAA Meet serves as the selection for the Palarong Pambansa set in Marikina City middle of this year, although there are some events that will still go through a cluster meet before the final action.

For the team events, it will be “winner-take-all” and reinforcement from other teams is no longer allowed. For measurable sports, there are some qualifying times that an athlete should meet to make it to the Palaro.