Little Olympics up in Cagayan de Oro

MANILA, Philippines - Nearly all of the 1,500 athletes competing in the Milo National Little Olympics national finals have been accounted for, ensuring a spirited battle for overall honors in multi-event sportsfest firing off today at the Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center in Cagayan de Oro City.

Opening ceremonies start at 4:30 p.m., with Gov. Oscar Moreno, Vice Gov. Norris Babiera, Mayor Vicente Emano and Milo officials, led by Pat Goc-Ong, expected to exhort the competitors to go all-out in their quest for excellence.

Action gets going Saturday in athletics, badminton, chess, gymnastics, soccer, lawn tennis, sepak takraw, scrabble, table tennis, taekwondo and volleyball at the Pelaez Sports Center and five other venues within the city in both the elementary and high school divisions.

Visayas, represented mostly by athletes from Cebu City, is the overall defending champion.

Only participants in athletics, gymnastics and swimming are vying in individual events while the rest will compete in team competitions.

Athletes vying in the high school division are aged 13-17 while competitors in the elementary division must not be over 12. Results of both divisions will determine the overall winner.

All the competitors are champions in the regional battles held earlier in Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao and the National Capital Region.

“We are very glad to hold the Milo Little Olympics National Finals at the Pelaez Sports Center because we want children to experience topnotch competition in top facilities,” said Goc-Ong.

“We want to give these students a chance to take part in tournaments at the best venues to enable them to have a feel of an Olympic setting. It’s good to start them young because we believe that great things starts from small beginnings, and we would not be surprised to see them competing in the biggest national and international events in the future,” Goc-Ong said.

Supervised by accredited professionals, the Milo Little Olympics is one of few sports meets included in the Department of Education calendar. Since its inception in 1988 the Milo Little Olympics has grown into one of the premier breeding grounds of young athletes and is a consistent feeder of talents for the country’s sports program. It was first expanded to include the Visayas, Mindanao and Luzon in 1995 and by the year 2000 has consistently attracted more than 20,000 athletes annually.