WITH Ruelle “Tawing” Canino and some fellow Palaro veterans leading the charge, the City of Gold is confident to do better in chess competition of the 2019 Mindanao Qualifying Leg set to be held February 3 to 9 in the province of Davao del Norte.
One of the country's youngest female chess masters, the bemedalled Canino of barangay Kauswagan Elementary School is a consistent top-notch performer in the ASEAN age-group chess tournaments abroad.
“Kusog sab ang boxing team sa city kay permi pud sila ga-overall champion. Kining sa chess kasaligan kay amo gayud gipili ang mga deserving nga players in elementary and high school levels,” said chess head coach Johnnel Balquin.
He cited Lorebina Carrasco II, Gwen Escarda, David Rey Ancheta and Euneil Grant Capilitan--all from Corpus Christi High School--among the city bets in Batang Pinoy Meet for Mindanao.
Cagayan de Oro will be sending a 249-strong delegation to the multifarious meet, the first time it considered to have a sizable number of athletes including coaches and officials.
“We're hoping for the best finish for Cagayan de Oro in Batang Pinoy history,” said Oro sports chief Jaymar Rivera, who along with City Mayor Oscar Moreno is optimistic the local bets could land in the top-3 being the second biggest delegation next to Davao City (324). At third is General Santos City with 215 athletes including coaches and team officials.
Archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, dancesports, futsal, karatedo, lawn tennis, pencak silat, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are sports that will be played in the regional qualifying meet.
Most of the games will be contested at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum City.
However, cycling, gymnastics, judo, Muay Thai, rugby football, triathlon, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu are the sports disciplines that will be disputed right straight to the national championships.