Department of
Education (DepEd) Ormoc City head Manuel Albaño said athletes from their city,
who won in most games during the regional sports meet that concluded Friday,
will start their practice within the week.
“We will be sending
more than 50 athletes to Palaro and most of them multiple medals as they
performed well in the EVRAA,” Albaño said on Monday.
Ormoc City team was
this year’s overall winner of EVRAA held in Calbayog City after earning a total
of 109 gold, 56 silver, 74 bronze. This is a big improvement to the 78 gold, 50
silver and 68 bronze they earned last year’s games held in Naval, Biliran.
Although their team
is this year’s EVRAA champion, the education official said that only half of
their athletes will compose the region’s delegation to the national event.
Others are gold medalists from other cities and provinces.
Albaño thanked Ormoc
Mayor Richard Gomez for his support extended to athletes as this inspired them
to defeat players from Leyte province, who has been the regional champion for
seven years.
Prior to the regional
competition, the city government consulted athletes who competed in international
sports competition like in Olympics, Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and Asian
Games.
The athletes from
Ormoc were trained for two months by SEA Games gold medalist Elma Muroz, 1996
Olympics Silver medalist Mansueto Velasco Jr., SEA Games 1999, 9-ball gold
medalist Rodolfo Luat, gymnast coach Larry Reyes, among others.
“It is always a dream
of DepEd to have a supportive local government, establish a good partnership
with them, not only in sports but in all activities related to education,”
Albaño added.
During her visit in
Calbayog City on Friday, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that due to
budget constraints, their agency is dependent on local government units to
finance athletes’ training.
“We hope that more
local government officials will become more supportive and build more sports
center like in the National Capital Region. They are the perpetual winner in
the Palarong Pambansa because they have good support to sports program,”
Briones said.
Meanwhile, DepEd
Leyte office chief Ronilo Al Firmo said that although they ended in the second
spot, they are still happy because many athletes in the Palaro representing the
region, will come from Leyte province.
“Although we ranked
second to Ormoc, we feel as if we are the champion because almost half of
Eastern Visayas delegation to the Palaro are from Leyte,” Firmo said.
For the Palarong
Pambansa 2018 to be held last week of April, DepEd Region 8 will send around
600 to 700 athletes, coaches, and chaperones. (RTA,PNA)
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