Sunday, February 10, 2008 DAVRAA Meet opens in Mati By Marianne L. Saberon-Abalayan
SOME 3,000 athletes get ready for battle as the Davao Regional Athletic Association (Davraa) Meet 2008 opens at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Mati Centennial Sports Complex, City of Mati, Davao Oriental.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) executive director Fr. Vicente Uy, SVD, is guest in the opening rites of the six-day sportsfest for elementary and secondary athletes.
Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon and City of Mati Mayor Michelle Rabat are also expected to grace the opening program along with Davraa's top officials and heads of delegations.
Defending champion Davao City expects stiff competition from the host team and last year's runner-up Compostela Valley (ComVal) for the over-all crown this year.
But Davao City, according to its athletic manager Jimmy Cerrojales, is very much aware of the challenge that awaits them in Mati.
"Mati and ComVal recently made public their intentions to snatch the title from us. But let's just see if they can do that. We will let our performance speak instead of making any prediction," Cerrojales said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao during the delegation's send-off program at at the Davao City National High School (DCNHS) auditorium Thursday afternoon.
He said the city's athletes just completed a 15-day training period in preparation for the meet.
He added, "I think Mati and ComVal also had a 15-day training period. There's not much difference with our preparation. But our athletes are ready to win. They will not just compete in Mati but they will also vie for slots to the Palarong Pambansa in Puerto Princesa, Palawan."
Davao del Sur and Davao del Norte are also entered in the meet.
DAVRAA features archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, chess, table tennis, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, football, sepak takraw, sipa, taekwondo, boxing, lawn tennis, arnis and softball.
