by Moses Billacura
I was experiencing headaches when I wrote this column but when Melanie Sam informed me about the good news that young Dabawenyos reaped medals in the Super TriKids Governor’s Cup in Cagayan de Oro, I was in a way relieved.
Congratulations to Eduard Moritz Leuenberger of Ateneo for winning the 7 to 8 years old boy’s category. Siblings Elise Martha (9 to 10 girls) and Katrina (13 to 14 girls) brought home bronze medals.
Denise Faith Uy-garcia of Davao Christian High dominated the 13 to 14 years old girl’s class and younger brother Kurt Thomas settled for a silver.
Akira Michico Lumanlan-Sam of Colegio de San Ignacio zoomed ahead for the gold medal inthe 11 to 12 years old boy’s category.
And of course, we would like to thank their backers Boondocks Cycle, Everflex Electricals and Swimzone Swimming School.
Thank you kids for making us proud.
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The Davao City arnis team won one gold and three bronze medals in the recent National Arnis Encounter.
Manuel Gabiola won a gold medal while the bronze medals were delivered by Jed Marc Palazuelo, Roy Cellona and Julius Almendras.
According to coach Jose Sapar, the team may have won more medals if not for the incompetent officiating.
Incidents like this are normal in Philippine sports and that is very sad.
You see, our Davao players have trained very hard for the national open and when bad officiating comes in, they get discouraged.
Arnis Philippines-Davao City commissioner Mario Palazuelo should formally make his protest on this matter and we hope that their national heads will find a way to arrest this problem.
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Years ago, I can remember during the National PRISAA Championships in Cebu, the Davao team went to the finals against the National Capital Region.
Bad officiating took place and coach Joaquin “Boy” Sarabia could not believe it was happening.
Coach Boy went to the pitcher’s area and called the attention of the officials. Had he not gone wild and scolded them for their bad officiating, Davao could have lost the national title against the Manila team.
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Playing favorites to a team by sports leaders has been a never ending discussion in every tournament.
Team managers accuse officials for favoring the team because he or she is part of the team or has been its consultant or has a transaction with the team’s benefactors.
The only way to arrest this problem is to craft a genuine and comprehensive sports program.
Frankly, there is no need to invent. We just have to study how the other countries manage their sports program and find a way to suit it to our needs.
I have seen national sports leaders travel abroad at the expense of taxpayer’s money and yet I have not seen them file reports for appropriate action by our legislators.
Legislative action is needed to propel our sports development efforts and if that happens, we look forward to seeing healthy and alert Filipinos.
