CHED Games get going today

WITH President Arroyo as the guest of honor, the country’s premier collegiate sports showcase, the 2010 Commission on Higher Education National Games, get going today in glittering opening ceremonies at the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium.

Representing the cream of varsity sports, over 5,000 athletes from the country’s 17 regions will be in town to compete in the weeklong sportsfest conceptualized and organized by CHED Chairman Dr. Emmanuel Y. Angeles.

What makes the CHED National Games truly comprehensive is the participation of athletes from private schools and institutions, state colleges and universities and local government colleges and universities.

"I personally consider the CHED National Games as a milestone for Philippine higher education because this is the first time that private higher educational insti-tutions, state universities and colleges and local government colleges and universities are staging an integrated national sports competition," President Arroyo said in a statement on the eve of the meet’s opening rites.

"The need to put together the best athletes from all these institutions has never been this urgent in our desire to discover and develop top-caliber athletes who can represent the Philippines in international sports competitions someday," Mrs. Arroyo added.

Aside from President Arroyo and Angeles, also invited to grace the inaugural ceremonies starting at 3 a.m. are Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Harry Angping and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim.

PRISAA chairman Dr. Gonzalo Duque, SCUAA president Dr. Lauro Tacbas, and LCUAA president Tomas Lopez will also grace the opening rites of the games whose working theme is "Building Bridges, Achieving Excellence."

Among the highlights of today’s rites will be the presentation of colors of the CHED National Games and the banners of the PRISAA, SCUAA and LCUAA, plus the torch relay and the lighting of the urn of "Friendship, Peace, Prosperity and Unity."

President Arroyo will declare the Games open. Action goes full blast tomorrow when the athletes vie in 18 sports events in various venues in Metro Manila.

The individual sports are men’s and women’s athletics, men’s and women’s badminton, men’s boxing, men’s and women’s chess, dance sports, men’s and women’s judo, men’s and women’s karatedo, men’s and women’s lawn tennis, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s table tennis and men’s and women’s taekwondo.

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