Host Aklan brace for WVRAA meet
KALIBO, Aklan – With only six days left before the much-awaited Western Visayas Regional Athletic Association (WVRAA) Meet kicks off on March 14, Provincial Engineer Victory Fernandez said the provincial government of Aklan and the Department of Education (DepEd) are all ready to host the regional sports event featuring the six participating provinces in the region.
Over the popular weekly Kapihan sa Aklan, Fernandez said the sprawling Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex in Makato, Aklan is targeted for completion by March 12 in time for the weeklong multi-sports event.
The province spent millions for the construction of state-of the-art Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex for the hosting of the first ever WVRAA meet in 15 years. The six-day regional athletic meet will begin on March 14 at the sports complex with simultaneous games in 10 different venues.
Fernandez said the finishing touches are being done on the Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex, site of the 1995 regional meet, which cost the province some P86-million to rehabilitate and construct.
‘The preparations of the provincial government for the regional athletic meet are almost 95 percent complete in terms of the construction of major facilities in the Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex. We are proud to say we are ready to host this sporting event from March 14 to 19,” Fernandez stressed.
The 2010 WVRAA edition will formally open on March 15 with former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Jr., Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez, Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores, Vice Governor Gabrielle Calizo-Quimpo and officials of the Department of Education expected to grace the biggest sporting event in the region.
Fernandez said the main grandstand is almost finished while the P36-million Olympic standard swimming pool and the rubberized athletic tracks are ready for the best tankers and athletes in the region.
Other sports venues and billeting areas identified by the DepEd officials to be staged in the towns of Lezo, Numancia, Makato, and the capital town of Kalibo are ready to accommodate more than 2,500 athletes, sports officials and coaches representing the elementary and secondary divisions all over the region.
Dr. Mary Ann Lopez of DepEd said the provincial government also constructed temporary roofing for the grandstand of swimming pool and blenchers made of light materials as holding areas for athletes, contingent and sports enthusiasts.
Alternate venues are Makato Sports Complex for table tennis, Lezo covered court for taekwondo, sepak takraw in Numancia covered gym, sipa in Bulwang, Numancia covered court, chess at Gov. Corazon L. Cabagnot Tourism and Training Center, volleyball (secondary boys) in Northwestern Visayan Colleges (NVC) covered gym, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics and arnis at the Aklan Catholic College (ACC) gym, boxing at Kalibo Magsaysay Park, badminton at Ati-Atihan Badminton Court, baseball (elementary) at Aklan State University (ASU)-SIT Kalibo campus.
The centerpiece events of swimming and athletics will be played at the refurbished Aklan Calangcang Sports Complex along with football, basketball, volleyball (elementary), archery and lawn tennis.
Delegates from as far as Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Capiz, Antique, Iloilo and Aklan are quartered in different in public and private schools, mostly in Kalibo, Aklan, Lopez added.
Next month, the Western Visayas will participate in the 53rd edition of the Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac where over 6,000 student athletes from public and private schools will compete in 17 sports discipline.
Aklan State University (ASU) officer-in-charge Dr. Benny Palma, for his part, thanked the provincial government for choosing the ASU as venue of the sports facilities.
Last year, Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez and the ASU entered into Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the rehabilitation and construction of the 6.5-hectares property in Barangay Calangcang, Makato, Aklan.
