BOXING, arnis, and badminton officials haven't submitted their lists of outstanding athletes for the 15th So Kim Cheng Sports Awards Night set on July 22 at the Pantawan Hall-Pagcor of the Grand Regal Hotel.

Davao City Councilor Peter Laviña, president of the Davao City Sports Council Inc. (DCSCI), bared this during the Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) Forum at the Tower Inn on Thursday.

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Lavia said the deadline of submission of nominees already lapsed.

"I think badminton (officials) really has nobody to nominate. But boxing and arnis have athletes who performed well the past year and yet we haven't received any nomination from their officials," Laviña said.

He confirmed that the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap)-Davao City led by Davao City Councilor Edgar Ramos Ibuyan is the duly recognized DCSCI member. Thus, Ibuyan should have been the one to nominate candidates for outstanding athletes in boxing.

It is interesting to note that there were no boxers hailed during the SKC Awards last year despite the sterling performances of the Moralde brothers, Engelbert and John Vincent, who captured gold medals in their respective events during the 2008 Palarong Pambansa in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

In this year's Palaro held in Tacloban City, Engelbert settled for a bronze instead. But he is still credible to receive the 2009 SKC outstanding boxer award since no other Davao City boxer would come close to the feat he had achieved. He was also hailed best junior boxer during the Smart 2009 Mindanao Youth Open Boxing Championships held in Panabo City recently.

The DCSCI chief added outstanding athletes in other fields without representation in the DCSCI were not considered for any award or citation this year.

"We had deliberated on this matter since we have outstanding athletes in golf, billiards, dragon boat, and wushu, among others, but there is no local National Sports Association (NSA) recognized by DCSCI that can nominate them," he explained.

The councilor, however, encouraged well-meaning sports enthusiasts and leaders to organize a local NSA that still has no representative here or for existing local NSAs to re-activate their membership with DCSCI like football, archery, and billiards so they, too, can nominate deserving athletes in their respective fields. (MLSA)