Breaking ‘Palaro tradition’ not sound

IT TURNS out the clustering of events in the 2011 Regional Meet has not been yet officially approved, though a "man-com meeting" for Department of Education (DepEd)-Northern Mindanao officials, which is underway Friday, may settle the issue anytime this week.

If approved, the "brainchild plan" of DepEd-Northern Mindanao Director Luz Almeda will give at least five sporting events each to Bukidnon and Iligan with the rest of the regional meet games to be hosted by Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center.

Public school athletes excel

PUBLIC school athletes threaten to beat their private school counterparts for the overall supremacy in the 2011 Cagayan de Oro City Quadrangular Meet.

Initial tally of the pre-regional meet competition showed the public school athletes from the city's first and second districts winning big-time in the ballgame events.

Oro Bankers caging set to open Saturday

THE Nazareth gym will host Saturday night’s opening of the 1st Oro Bankers Inter Color basketball tournament.

Dubbed as "Linda Costales Cup", the four-team rivalry's inaugural show will mark the end of a decade-long inactivity of the Oro bankers hoopfest that used to have an inter-bank mode of competition.

‘Play for a Cause’ XU alumni tilt

GIVING hope to less fortunate student athletes in the locality has mainly inspired the creation of the Xavier University High School (XUHS) Alumni Basketball Association.

Now on its second season, the group's basketball tourney kicked off last October 1 at the XU gym, featuring Batch `89 opposite Batch `91 for the preliminary game.

Biantan: Enter the UFL

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Next to the Azkals phenomenon, the United Football League is the second best thing to happen to Philippine football.

Then put the Azkals, the UFL plus a taste of showbiz and add AKTV of TV 5 in one bowl and you get a concoction of a football dream. A dream that all of us football fans want to wake up from our long time slumber.

Suan, Lapid shine in Oro golfest

JUN Suan and Michael Lapid shared the limelight in the 12th Oro Open Golf Tournament concluded here recently at Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club.

Favored MOGCHS loses cage match

UNIT 3, anchored by the best talents from Opol to Lugait municipalities, shocked the favored MOGCHS, 63-57 in Monday’s basketball championship of the 2011 Provincial Meet here at Pelaez Sports Center.

Despite the presence of scoring machine Kenneth Salado at MOGCHS's roster, the Unit 3 dribblers trained by Lloyd Galarrita and coached by Kit Ladroma made life difficult for the host team right from the start.

Corpus Knights rule Prisaa chess

CORPUS Christi School swept the team titles of the 2011 Prisaa chess competition then sent 6 of its 8 players in elementary and secondary levels to next month's Cagayan de Oro City Quadrangular Meet.

The CCS Knights also clinched all the individual titles on boards 1 and 2, though a couple of them failed to survive in the playoff round that will determine the Prisaa bets in the next qualifying games for the Palaro where they would tackle next the Cosaa and the public schools' district 1 and 2 representatives.

Oro Bankers revive cage loop rivalry

AFTER a decade-long lull, the Cagayan de Oro Bankers decided to revive its basketball tournament of which dormancy was triggered by the Metro Bank's four years dominance in a row.

"Along with its revival, we all have agreed to change the format by mixing the players from the different banks kay obvious na kon kinsa ang modaug if ang tema inter-bank lang gihapon," tournament director Arnel DyShines told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.

Lluch wins Iligan fiesta chessfest

HOMEGROUND bet Victor Lluch defended turf, winning the just-concluded 2011 Sidlak Iligan Fiesta Open chess tournament at Iligan Capitol College.

Defeating Cebuano campaigner Engr. Rommel Asoque in the seventh and final round, Lluch actually finished in a tie with Maximo Ramos of Dipolog and NM Ernesto Fernandez of Pagadian at 6 points each but prevailed in the Bucholz tiebreaker to cop the championship trophy.

MisOr, LTO share title cage honors

MISAMIS Oriental team on Friday won arguably the strongest basketball tourney of the Civil Service Commission in Northern Mindanao for many years.

12th Oro Open golf fest unwraps

AROUND 250 parbusters see action in the 12th Cagayan de Oro Open Golf Tournament today at Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club.

Auto Planet's anniversary tilt set Sept. 18

A one-day hoopfest will mark the Auto Planet ballclub's third year anniversary on September 18 at the covered court of Barangay 24, Cagayan de Oro.

"One-day league lang pero bibo kita niini," said Auto Planet Club owner Kuya Mel Heruela of the Green Eagles Club.

XU cagers still soar high

HOST Xavier University (XU), despite suffering a major setback in its coaching staff, is still set to figure prominently in the crucial round of the ongoing 2011 Cosaa basketball tournament in Cagayan de Oro.

In fact, the Crusaders will face bitter rivals from St. Mary's School in the 14-under championship on September 25 while sharing the top-four billing with Cagayan de Oro College, Southern Philippine College (SPC) and Lourdes College in high school senior varsity level.

Biantan: Nanay Susan will be missed

LONDON - I personally saw Susan Placer Younghusband many years ago when I covered the Chelsea reserves vs Hampton Richmond friendly in South London.

She came with her elder son James Younghusband to watch younger son Phil Younghusband play for the Chelsea reserves. I sat beside a barbecue stand selling hot burgers and hotdogs. They were just few meters away from me but I was not in the mood to talk to anybody. Why?

Oro's Lapuz tries to dethrone Alta

PHILIPPINES super welterweight champion Marlon "Marex" Alta of General Santos City will make the first defense of his title against Cagayan de Oro's Dondon "Celson" Lapuz on September 17 at the Elorde Sports Complex in Sucat, Parañaque City, Metro Manila.

The Alta vs Lapuz GAB title fight is scheduled for 12 rounds and 154 lbs, confirmed promoter Gabriel "Bebot" Elorde, son of legendary Hall of Fame champion Gabriel "Flash" Elorde.

Dabodabo rules Bonbon tilt

ONCE Barangay Bonbon's MVP (Most Valuable Player) in basketball, the physically-impaired Jione Dahang Dabodabo added the 9 balls billiard title as his latest conquest.

The multi-sport athlete Dabodabo drubbed Roger Alberca, 6-4, in the finals to pocket the P1,500 top purse of the 2011 Bonbon Fiesta 9 balls tourney concluded here recently at the place of Barangay Bonbon kagawad Jackielyn Biongcog.

City Central, Corpus Christi stay champs in Milo olympics

QUITE inferior in the centerpiece events, the Cagayan de Oro-based City Central School and Corpus Christi School still managed to keep the spotlight in the Mindanao Milo Little Olympics 2011 concluded here last Aug. 7 at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center.

Azkals in San Beda, Teknika football clash

WITH its place in the Smart Club semis already secured via a solitary goal by Dingdong Fornea against Laos FC on Thursday, the crowd-darling Rizal-Smart San Beda FC goes up against the dangerous Teknica FC Saturday afternoon at Pelaez Sports Center here.

The San Beda-Teknica face-off capping the Group A elimination of the PFF-Smart Club Championships is set at 3:30 p.m. after the preliminary match between Laos FC and the winless Bao Breakers FC.

Close rivalry marks 2011 Little Olympics

THIS year's Mindanao Milo Little Olympics proved to be a big scare for reigning champions Corpus Christi School in secondary level and City Central School in elementary level.

Bukidnon schools shock table tennis rivals

BUKIDNON's Kalilangan National High School and Maca-opao Elementary School may still a decade far from becoming title contenders. But their athletes in table tennis event made a mark in the Mindanao Milo Little Olympics 2011 concluded here last Sunday at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center.

Smart helps, SMC ignores

LONDON -- Smart, PH largest mobile phone service provider, has given its all-out support to Philippine football while our country's biggest conglomerate San Miguel Corp. has continued to snub the beautiful game.

Smart has even committed P80 million to the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) in 10 years to support the PFF national club championship, now called of course PFF Smart National championship.

A thrilling 1-0 win by San Beda

THE Younghusband brothers (Phil and James) and the Smart San Beda FC booters pulled a thrilling 1-0 victory over the hard-fighting Laos FC to ensure an exciting finale in the PFF-Smart Club Championships at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center on Thursday.

Considered as their toughest rival in the Cagayan de Oro Group A elimination, Teknika FC earlier manhandled the winless Bao Breakers FC via a 9-0 rout.

Constant practice makes City Central table netters champs

CAGAYAN de Oro's City Central School boosted its chance of keeping the overall title in elementary level of the just-held Mindanao Milo Little Olympics 2011 at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center.

This, after its table tennis boys -- who only placed third last year -- upset reigning back-to-back champion Living Spring Academy of Iligan, 2-0, in the semifinal round.

Biantan: Footie pays for UK riots

LONDON -- One of the casualties of the riots that have engulfed London and some cities in UK starting last Saturday night (August 6) is the beautiful game.

The England vs Holland friendly set Wednesday (August 10) in Wembley was the first footie casualty. The match was cancelled because the Metropolitan Police would not ensure full security in the event of a possible riot spillover.

2011 Milo Little Olympics: Zambo stude wins gold in swim event

THAT Milo Little Olympics in Mindanao is getting bigger and better can be gleaned by the participation of school delegates from what considered as probably one of the farthest towns in Mindanao island.

2011 Milo Little Olympics: A near-sweep by Corpus chessers

CORPUS Christi School made another sensational finish, almost sweeping the chess team championships of the Mindanao Milo Little Olympics concluded Sunday at the high-rise new MOGCHS building in Cagayan de Oro.

As the foursome of Bea Sophia Dupa, Vanessa Magno, Honey Grace Baclayo and Juliet Angelika Mari Pabillore played through undefeated to bag the elementary girls plum, the fivesome of Jason Chezter Coquilla, Keith Duval Ibaoc, Jeff Russell Rivera, Leuvin Paul Salgados and Christian Mario Pabillore did the same in seven rounds to pocket the secondary boys title.

Oro to host Dunlop netfest on Aug. 13-15

CAGAYAN de Oro will play host to the 1st leg of Dunlop Mindanao Junior Tennis Series on August 13-15 at the Nazareth Lawn Tennis Club.

Local organizer, lawyer Tibs Palasan said Dunlop's kick-off staging of its Mindanao series -- which also has similar legs in Zamboanga City (October 8-10) and Davao City (December 26-30) -- will serve as major sports highlight of the Kagay-an Festival.

2011 Little Olympics opens Saturday in Oro

HUNDREDS of student athletes in Mindanao gather in Cagayan de Oro City today, Saturday, as one of the biggest and most anticipated sporting events of the year formally opens at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center.

The Mindanao Milo Little Olympics 2011, now entering its 23rd year, desires to make young athletes become champions in life.

Mindanao athletes start disputing 12 Milo events

BATTERED by heat and rain in Friday's opening ceremony, yet it's still action goes in full throttle in Cagayan de Oro City Saturday for the hundreds of student athletes in 12 sporting events of the Mindanao Milo Little Olympics 2011.

Perspiring to a humid Friday morning while assembling at the Capitol ground, the Milo athletes were apparently greeted by an hour-long drizzles as they proceeded and gathered at Don Gregorio Pelaez Sports Center in the afternoon's ceremonial rites.