MANILA – After the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic forced the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) to cancel the second round of its Season 82, its Season 83, which starts with the popular men’s basketball tournament, is also in doubt.
The league will go by the “no games, no vaccine” rule like the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
UAAP Season 82 president and board member Emmanuel Fernandez said that there’s a big possibility that Season 83 will not tipoff this September like in the previous years as COVID-19 by that time is still in the country.
“If there’s no vaccine, magkakahawaan pa rin. “Even though PSC emphasized that the UAAP and PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) have their own charters, it definitely would be the same.”
UAAP executive director Rebo Saguisag, for his part, said that the regularity of classes among the member schools is one of the requirements in determining the schedule of UAAP’s next season.
According to Saguisag, the league will not be able to restart its operations on a normal pace by September due to rigid restrictions on all trainings and sports-related gatherings.
“Even if it’s lifted, you have to consider the time that players need to get into condition to avoid injuries. We have to have a terminal date. Right now, we still haven’t talked about a definite date,” Saguisag said.
“If we’re looking at a September opening, the players would have to train as early as July, which we know is a bit of a long shot,” he added. “We’re actually open to the idea that maybe we might start in January.”
It will also depend on UAAP’s member schools. Some of them already announced that their academic year will open online.
“The concern right now of the schools is how they’ll open, and some schools have already announced that they’ll open online,” Saguisag said.
“Even if in the rest of the world the professional athletes will return to action, it doesn’t mean that we’ll return to action also because it’s a business to them, it’s a profession. Right here, we’re prioritizing the students first,” he added.
UAAP Season 82 was dropped on April 7 after President Rodrigo Duterte extended Luzon’s enhanced community quarantine to April 30.
The events affected during the second round were volleyball and football. Baseball, softball, athletics lawn tennis, and 3×3 basketball athletes, on the other hand, were not able to showcase their talents for their respective schools./PN
