NMRAA set for Palaro action, 400 athletes bound for Palawan

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - NMRAA champion athletes from Cagayan de Oro will compose the biggest bulk of Region 10 delegation to the 2008 Palarong Pambansa to be held April 20-26 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. A COAA (Cagayan de Oro Athletic Association) official said at least 60 percent of athletes comprising the NMRAA team comes from Team CDO. "But it's just regrettable that in the end, many of us who worked hard to help CDO won the championships were not even considered to join the NMRAA delegation. Mora'g gipaboran sa Region ang Misor," said the male COAA official, a veteran of the Palaro Meet management, who did not want to be identified. He surmised that politics may have something to do for his non-inclusion "kay medyo nakasulti ta'g negative sa dako nga politiko sa siyudad (it could be for my previous remarks that were quite critical to the ears of a top-ranking politician in the city)." A total of 400 NMRAA athletes, more or less, will see action in the multi-farious meet. At 228, secondary athletes almost double the number of their qualified counterparts in the elementary level at 173 only. "It's moot and academic na gamay ra sa elementary kay gawas nga layo ang biyahe, kinahanglan pa'g chaperon ang mga bata for security reasons," one coach from private school told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. To sustain the physical condition of the Palaro contestants, CESO IV Director III Nona A. Estilo of Dep-Ed 10 advised the athletes, coaches and chaperons to report at the City Central School for a live-in training from April 7 to 15. The 400-strong Northern Mindanao contingent is set to leave here on April 16 (12:30 noon) via St. St. Joseph the Worker of Negros Navigation. They are expected to arrive in Palawan on the following day. - Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro