SLU bags six gold in BBEAL allied sports

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - The Saint Louis University (SLU) silently worked in bagging six championships in the seven allied sports in the ongoing Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic league (BBEAL). While the limelight remains in the basketball and volleyball games for the annual meet, SLU focused on the not so popular sporting events to gain the top spot in the BBEAL. "It's all about hard work," the soft-spoken Lucy Calagui, Athletics Director of SLU said Wednesday afternoon in a press conference at the UC Training Center. "Every time we meet, I ask my coaches to do something about their training and strengthen their weaknesses and it paid off," Calagui added. SLU bagged the gold in chess, badminton and table tennis both in the men's and women's category on top of being the number one team in basketball men and the number one team in women's volleyball. University of the Cordilleras (UC) took their lone gold in the sepak takraw event, with four silver medal performances in the men's chess, men and women's badminton, and women's table tennis and a bronze medal for the men's table tennis. The University of Baguio (UB) placed second in the men's badminton and women's chess including bronze medals in the women's chess, men and women's badminton, and women's table tennis events. Calagui said despite SLU's lack of chance to recruit players for their varsity team, they would often rely on their enrollees who passed their entrance examination willing to try out for the various sports disciplines or those who played in their annual intramurals, which they often recruit for the school varsity team. Meanwhile, the semifinal match for the women's basketball starts Thursday when the UB will give Benguet State University (BSU) in a lesson or two when the two teams square it off in the afternoon games. UB finished first after beating defending champion the other week by at least 13 points to take the first spot. The second and third ranked teams, on the other hand, UC and defending champion SLU are scheduled to meet to decide which team advances to the finals. SLU defeated UC by six points during the elimination but is the underdog as it needs to beat the higher ranked squad twice to move into the finals. UC won over UB by two points in the elimination. - Sun.Star Baguio