Phl to stage World Cup dance tourney

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines will host the WDSF World Cup Latin Philippines Professional Division Championships on Dec. 15 at the Harbor Tent Sofitel Philippine Plaza with over 22 countries and 400 dancing pairs competing in the dancesport showcase. 

“This is the first time that this prestigious competition is being held in Asia since it is regularly held in Europe and gives the opportunity for Asian dancers, including our own, to compete in the event,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines and organizing committee head Cynthia Carrion in yesterday’s PSA Forum at the Shakey’s UN Avenue branch in Manila.

Dancesport Council of the Philippines president Becky Garcia joined Carrion, who is also the Professional Dancesport Association of the Philippines (PDAP) chair, in the session sponsored by Pagcor, Smart, Outlast Battery, and Shakey’s to give more details about the one-day dancefest.

“There will be four divisions in event, namely Professional Latin, Professional Standard, Open Standard and Open Latin,” Garcia said, adding that the champion pair in each division will receive 1,500 euros (roughly P200,000), runner-up 1,200 euros and third place 800 euros.

“The champions in each division from all over the world have been invited to compete in the World Latin Cup so this will be truly a tough competition,” Garcia said.

“The eliminations will be held in the morning while the semi-finals and finals will be in the evening.

Both Carrion and Garcia said that the Filipinos’ brightest hopes in the event are newlywed partners Ronnie Vergara and Charlea Lagara, who bagged two golds and a silver in the Asian Dancesport Championships held in Beijing, China last September.

“The Vergara couple will be competing in the Open Latin division,” Garcia said.

An P8-million budget is being earmarked for the World Cup Latin Philippines “because we want to put our best foot forward and show our visitors that we can put on a big international competition of this magnitude,” Carrion said. Spicing up the evening affair will be a Latin dance featuring street kids trained by former 2005 Philippine SEA Games gold medalist and PDAP president Belinda Adora, according to Aguila.