Filipino-Chinese football to kick off Sunday in Davao City

DAVAO CITY, Feb. 8 — Young football players in this city will be competing in the First Sakya Fil-Chinese Football Festival that will kick off on February 13 at the Tionko grounds here.

Michelle Uy, team manager of the organizing Philippine Academy of Sakya Football Club, said the one-day competition will be participated by students from the city's different schools.

Uy said confirming their participations are the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU), Abbas Montessori, Southpoint and Philippine Women's College (PWC).

She said the event, which is one of the activities to highlight the Chinese New Year celebration on February 14, will have the boys 16, boys 14, boys and girls 12, boys and girls 10, mixed 8 and mixed 6 categories.

Trophies will be awarded to the top finishers, she said.

Uy said they are staging the tournament to help in the development of football in Davao City and to show to everyone that the sport is alive among the Chinese community.

"We are here to support football and we also want to prove that even if we don't have a field, we can play and excel in the sport," Uy said.

She said the support extended by the parents of the players really contributed a lot in their quest to help develop the sport in their school and transform the children into better players.

The Sakya Football Club was formed just last year and already the team has improved a lot under the supervision of Uy and Mary Tan, her co-manager.

Uy said Sakya Football Club competed in the 2009 Alaska Cup, the prestigious annual football tournament among the country's junior booters and in the Rizal Football Cup and De La Salle Zobel Football Festival wherein it placed third in the boys 10.

In the coming festival, she said, Sakya will compete in the 6, 8 and 10 categories. The team is mentored by Alex Adolfo.

Meanwhile, Davao Football Association (DFA) general secretary Erwin Protacio said the tournament offers limited slots thus, teams are encouraged to sign up early.

He said registration fee for category is P300 and deadline for submission of entries is 3 p.m. on February 10. (PNA)

LDV/MPB/lvp

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