Mayor Cabaron on inter-town sportsfest: “We are doing this for Moalboalanons”

CEBU, Philippines — Moalboal Mayor Inocentes Cabaron said holding an inter-town basketball and volleyball tournaments is driven by their ardent desire to provide enjoyment and highly entertaining action for the sports-loving Moalboalanons.

With a total of P500,000 in cash prize, its basketball event is easily one of the biggest in the annals of Cebu sports.

 “We are doing this for Moalboalanons,” said Cabaron. “Basketball is really big in our town, even our inter-barangay tournaments attract a huge crowd. We are doing this so they can enjoy a great competition.”

In all, a dozen teams will be slugging it out for the P200,000 champion’s purse. The losing finalist will pocket P150,000, while the third and fourth placers will take home P100,000 and P50,000, respectively.

The title contenders are Dumanjug, Argao, Aloguinsan, Sibonga, Badian, and Boljoon in Group A and Dalaguete, Samboan, Alcantara, Barili, Ronda, and San Fernando in Group B.

Each group will play a single round robin, with the top two per bracket advancing to the crossover semifinals wherein they are allowed to add an import to spice things up.

 Cabaron staged an inter-school competition last year but decided to hold an inter-town event for this year’s fiesta because of the strong clamor of the people.

“I think this is what they want. I used to hold inter-town tournaments before the pandemic and they always attracted a huge crowd,” said Cabaron.

And the spectators who saw the opening matches were treated to quite a show, with Badian surviving a gritty Ronda, 77-70, and Samboan coming from behind to beat Alcantara, 98-95.

Aside from the hardcourt battle, Cabaron is also staging a volleyball tilt for both men’s and women’s divisions with Dumanjug, Alcantara, Ronda, Moalboal, Badian, Alegria, Malabuyoc, and Barili as participants.

“It has been a long time since we got to play in front of our home crowd and we are very thankful for Mayor Cabaron for giving us this chance. We can’t promise anything but we will try our best to win the title for our fellow Moalboalanons,” said playing coach Dave Cabaron, who once played for the men’s national team in the 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The hosts are off to a great start, with the lady spikers beating Alcantara, 25-0, 25-20, and the men’s squad also dispatching Alcantara, 25-12, 20-25, 25-23. .

The twin tournaments aren’t the only sporting endeavor of the town as last year, Cabaron instituted a massive grassroots program that includes tennis, table tennis, badminton, chess, and sepak takraw, giving almost a thousand kids and aspiring athletes a chance at harnessing further their athletic skills for free.

“We want to give our kids a chance to get into sports so we provided them with free training every weekend,” said Cabaron, himself a devout sportsman who plays tennis every weekend.-- EBV