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[av_heading heading=’ BUZZER BEATER | More to come for sports in Iloilo province’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Wednesday, June 7, 2017
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THE provincial government of Iloilo had a milestone recently in terms of its sports development with the successful launching of the First Province of Iloilo Sports Developmental League (FPISDL).
Dr. Raymundo Lapating, executive director for the Center for Sports and Physical Fitness, said that FPISDL is a gauge of how to develop a sports program involving public and private entities in one common direction and purpose.
“For the first time, this is the sports program Iloilo has created that has a direction,” Lapating said in a speech during the closing ceremony. “The FPISDL may have culminated but it will never end. In fact, we are just starting.”
“We held this event to search for new talents in sports. We aim to provide meaningful sports and fitness activities to the youth,” he added. “We decided to focus on grassroots sports to cultivate a culture of excellence.”
Among the events during the 10-day tournament were basketball, volleyball, badminton, tennis, table tennis, football, and chess.
The FPISDL started from the creation of a barangay or municipal sports league, formation of training teams by municipality, inter-training center competitions until it reaches the Provincial Summer Developmental League.
The program will also give priority to the welfare of athletes, who can either be in-school or out-of-school youth, and will strictly be based on the child’s growth and development.
After the FPISDL, more plans are in store for Iloilo sports development, including the strengthening of the athletics team and the forming of Iloilo team in various sporting events.
“This is just the start. We have more plans ahead,” Lapating said. “We are trying to strengthen further our athletics team to keep in step with the other regions in Palarong Pambansa.”
“We will also form an Iloilo basketball team and we will make sure that the team will [have a] long preparation,” he added. “We are also eyeing Iloilo teams in other sports like chess, football, tennis, and table tennis.”
With the dedication shown by Lapating, Iloilo will soon excel in various sporting events and its athletes could be tapped to represent Western Visayas in Palarong Pambansa — or the country internationally.
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Speaking of Iloilo sports, a number of Ilongga volleyball players are set to banner their respective teams in the 2017 Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference, which formally opened Tuesday night at San Juan Arena.
Defending champion F2 Logistics Cargo Movers will be parading three Ilonggas: Passi City native Aby Maraño, Dumangas native Aduke Ogunsanya and Fritz Joy Gallenero.
Petron Blaze Spikers also has three Ilonggas — Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, April Ross Hingpit and Ria Duremdes. Generika Life Savers has two (Ma. Shaya Adorador and Fiola Ceballos), while Cignal HD Spikers and Cocolife Asset Managers have Jovelyn Gonzaga and Shannen Palec, respectively.
Negros Occidental is also well represented in the season-opening conference with Bernadeth Pons of Blaze Spikers, Life Savers’ Patty Jane Orendain and Genevieve Casugod./PN
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