Focus on Zambo as Minda POF unwraps

The continuing search for future talents resumes today as the Mindanao leg of the Philippine Olympic Festival gets under way at the Mindanao Civic Center in Tubod, Lanao del Norte.

Zamboanga kicks off its title-retention campaign in various fronts but last year’s runner-up General Santos, the host province and the rest of the 21 other participating LGUs (local government units) are all going all out to crowd the Zamboangueños for the overall championship.

“The POF will be witness to the best athletes in Mindanao competing against each other in one venue,” POF and Philippine Olympic Committee chair Robert Aventajado said. “This is the best opportunity for us to identify the best athletes from the region.”

Aventajado will grace the opening rites at 3 p.m. Other guests in the event, sponsored by The Philippine STAR, Globe, Pagcor, ACCEL, Summit, Negros Navigation, AMA Computer College and Creativity Lounge, are Lanao del Norte Khalid Dimaporo and Philippine Sports commissioner Eric Loretizo.

Dimaporo will light the symbolic POF cauldron following the ceremonial torch relay that will pass through six municipalities in the province and end at the sprawling MCC venue.

Geared at producing top-notch athletes for the 2012 Olympics, the POF is a talent-identification program of the POC aimed at discovering talents from the countryside who could be tapped, developed and trained to become members of the national pool.

The event’s top performers in all qualifying legs – Mindanao, National Capital Region, Northern and Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog and Bicol – will earn berths in the National Championships slated this October at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex for possible spots in the RP pool.

The Mindanao leg serves as the second stop of this year’s POF with the first held in Northern and Central Luzon in Subic Bay last month where Baguio City captured the overall championship for the second straight year.

To expand the base of the program and at the same time attract more participants, organizers of the event have decided to add three more events from the original list of 17, including softball, badminton and volleyball.

Zamboanga edged General Santos by dominating swimming, athletics and wrestling where it racked up more than half of its 98-gold medal haul.

General Santos, behind its archers, gymnasts and tankers, threatened to spoil Zamboanga’s title bid but failed to complete the fight back, setting for runner-up honors with an 89-gold medal harvest. – Joey Villar