Wednesday, September 24, 2008 Carmela makes the cut
CARMELA Quijano became the last minute addition in the roster of Most Outstanding Athletes (MOA) of the Milo Little Olympics.
Quijano will be given the MOA honor in the elementary athletics replacing Mirlou Baring, who was found to have discrepancy in his records.
Baring of San Nicolas Elementary School, was named the MOA following his impressive performance in the athletics competition winning a bunch of gold medals in the elementary athletics of this year’s Milo Little Olympics, which wrapped up the other week at the Cebu City Sports Center.
He, however, was stripped of his achievements after it was discovered that he violated the age limit rule.
Baring, who competed and dominated in the 100 and 400 meter hurdles, triple jump, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay, was found to be overaged.
In the registration of athletes before the start of the tournament, Baring submitted his Form 137-A to the organizers, which stated that he was born on November 9, 1996, which passed the cutoff for the elementary category, which is January 1, 1996.
However, Milo Little Olympics organizer Ricky Ballesteros recently received a letter of protest from Sacred Heart School–Hijas’ Principal Minerva Roiles with an attached National Statistics Office-certified true copy of Baring’s birth certificate which showed that he was actually born on November 9, 1993, which was way past the cutoff date of the Elementary division, making him ineligible to compete in the category for violating rule and guideline 7-A or the cutoff date of athletes.
“Mirlou Baring is overaged. There’s a huge difference in skills between him and the other competitors because of the age gap,” said Ballesteros.
As an additional sanction for violating the rules and regulations of the tournament, Baring and his coach Abraham Dela Calzada were banned for the 2009 Milo Little Olympics and are required to submit a written apology.
“The evidence is very strong,” said Ballesteros. “As organizers, we decided to suspend Dela Calzada and Baring for next year’s tournament.”
Adding insult to injury, after Baring’s disqualification, San Nicolas ES slumped in the overall standing falling from fifth place to 17th place.
Due to the penalty slapped on Baring, the Most Outstanding honors was handed over to Quijano, who also had an equally impressive performance in the two-weekend sporting meet.
After Milo, Quijano was second in line for the MOA honors having won three gold medals from the individual events.
Quijano had topped the 100m, 200m and 400m sprint events. (EKA)
