DUE to some hitches, the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) is re-scheduling the finals of the Guinness World Record breaking attempt for the biggest archery tournament.
After a special meeting held yesterday at the CCSC office at the Cebu City Sports Center, the commission and its partners—the Cebu Archery Club and the DepEd Cebu City Division decided to move the finals to March 29 and 30.
“Tungason na kaayo that we can complete the eliminations and semifinal round by the end of the month, so we have decided to move it (finals) on the last weekend of March.
Our target was to finish our elimination in three months when we started it last September, but there were many dates that postponed the elimination round because of the (Oct. 15) earthquake, then the typhoon, the City Olympics, Sinulog and CVIRAA.
Right now, we are communicating with the GWR committee to inform them that we are re-scheduling the finals,” CCSC chairman Edward Hayco told Sun.Star-Cebu.
Aside from coping with the conflict of schedules, CCSC is also facing technical difficulties that also slowed down their schedule.
“We are also encountering technical problems, like the lack of arrows and target butts, plus we only have one team of officiating officials. We are forming three more teams right now so that we can cover 400 participants per day. As for the target butts and arrows, Dondon (Sombrio) is now making machines to produce them,” Hayco added.
Another problem that the CCSC is trying to address is how to regain the momentum that had been squashed by the postponements.
“Although the interest is still there, we are trying to take back the momentum of the teachers, principals, the athletes, the coaches that has been extinguished because of the postponements. But since the enthusiasm of Dondon and Pacheco (Valenzona) is contaminating, I am positive that we can get everything back in due time,” Hayco explained.
However, Hayco admitted that of the 120 public schools in Cebu City, only about 40 schools had finished their elimination round while the rest have yet to submit the list of participants.
“Although only about 40 schools out of the 120 schools have complied with the requirements only 10 schools completed their elimination round and are going to the semifinal round. Still, I am confident that we can break the existing record as we are looking at getting at least 15,000 participants. Everything will be back on track once we can form the three other teams of officiating officials and we can have as many arrows and target butts as needed,” expressed Hayco.