PRESSURE continues to mount as the final weekend of the Milo Little Olympics opens
today at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Seventeen-time champion University of Cebu currently leads the ranking following the swimming, table tennis, sepak takraw and taekwondo events last weekend. They claim that 17 straight titles is enough, but it seems UC is not ready to just let go of their reign in the sporting conclave just yet.
UC is currently leading by a precarious 20-point lead over closest rival for the overall title and last year’s runner up, University of San Carlos.
Things just might make a dramatic turn in the next two days.
“UC is still leading as we go into the final weekend. But we expect USC to do some damage. USC teams have advanced in many team sports events,” said organizer Ricky Ballesteros.
Team events stake more points compared to the invidual events and will most likely shake the rankings once these points are tallied.
USC teams are still in contention in basketball, lawn tennis, chess, badminton, scrabble, volleyball and gymnastics. It could still be a runner up in the track and field event.
“UC is holding on to dear life here. It is still in contention in track and field, badminton and chess,” said Ballesteros.
Ballesteros added that UC is trying to keep control of the track and field event, once a UC stronghold. Participants from Iloilo, made up of Palarong Pambansa standouts, just might change that.
“Iloilo athletes are spoilers in the athletics ranking. Especially in the girls secondary division,” said Ballesteros.
In today’s tennis championship, it will be a repeat of last year’s finals.
Secondary boys defending champion team USC led by Jan Godfrey Seno and Christofer Encarnacion will rival University of the Visayas (UV), which will be powered by Norman Joseph Enriquez, Ark Galo, Marc Rhondele Pradel and Francis Hidalgo.
According to Fritz Tabura, UV’s coach and at the same time the tournament manager, USC-BED is still made up of a solid team but hopes that his team will give a good fight.
The secondary girls finals will be between Bright Academy’s Jana Pages, Zethley Mae Alferez, Shyne Villareal and Kassandra Gandionco and USC-BED’s Beverly Enriquez, Patricia Hillary, Anthea Guarin, Lian Daniell Trasporte and Krestina Lavinia Sambrana.