Dumaguete set to host UniGames

CEBU, Philippines - Dumaguete City is ready for the hosting of this year’s 21st University Games, from October 25 to 30, as preparations for the venues of the scheduled events are now completed.

Most delegations will start arriving in Dumaguete starting October 22, UniGames president Roger Banzuela said. Those school-delegations with enough funding will stay in hotels, but those with limited funds, will be billeted in elementary schools.

Around 1,100 athletes were already set to be distributed at the following: West City Elementary School, South City Elementary School in Mangnao, North City Elementary School in Piapi, Batinguel Elementary School, Magsaysay Elementary School in Pulantubig, Camanjac Elementary School, and Junob National High School.

The technical meeting for all coaches, tournament managers and officiating officials is scheduled on October 24, Monday at 9:00 o’clock in the morning.

There are ten events for the UniGames this year: Basketball (men and women with 20 teams), beach volleyball (15 teams), table tennis (men and women), athletics, football, taekwondo, chess, and badminton. Sepak takraw is not included now due to lack of participating teams, but Branzuela said the secretary general of the Southeast Asian Sepak Takraw Association will visit Dumaguete to conduct a sepak takraw clinic.

So far, 38 schools, colleges and universities have confirmed their participation, the last of which is the Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) in Dumaguete City. Collegiate schools affected by the K-to-12 program have to field athletes in the individual and dual sports.

Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo said he is fortunate to be the mayor when Dumaguete is host of UniGames this year, the fifth so far in the city, the first three of which was hosted by Foundation University (2000,2002 and 2008), and then Silliman University in 2010 and this year, or 15 years since he was mayor in 2001.

Remollo said he has offered to host the UniGames every year from this time until his term ends in 2019, as a manifestation of support, hospitability and the love of sports by Dumagueteños. He also assured the organizers that the city will further upgrade the sports facilities in cooperation with the Negros Oriental provincial government, headed by Governor Roel Degamo.

The mayor said hosting of the national sports event is one way of helping the country’s resolve to stop illegal drugs, as the centerpiece campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Dumaguete’s way of contributing to the anti-drug campaign is to develop and support all types of sports as a proactive way to sway the minds of the youth from the temptations of drugs, via competitive sports that can also be rehabilitative, said Remollo.

Remollo said he was glad to note that the Philippine Sports Commission chairman himself Butch Ramirez, whose roots is from Guihulngan City, said Negros Oriental and Dumaguete City will be one of the centers for the development of grassroots sports in the country. (FREEMAN)