MILO organizers scrap national finals

CEBU, Philippines - The Milo Little Olympics will no longer have a national championships this year.

Hence, the multi-sport event is back to a purely regional battle, with the Visayas leg of its 18th edition set for September 8-11 in Cebu City.

Initially, Baguio is supposed to host this year's national finals but Milo Philippines decided to forego with it.

Local sports coordinator Ricky Ballesteros said during their meeting with Milo sports executives recently, the organizing Milo Philippines wants the other regions to strengthen their teams first as it has always been a Visayas-National Capital Region (NCR) rivalry since the time MLO insituted a national championships five years ago.

In a related development, arnis and karatedo are now regular sports in the MLO, while the request of Visayas to include the artistic gymnastics has been approved.

Ballesteros said he asked the national organizers to include artistic gymnastics aside from the rhythmic events as part of the local gymnasts' preparations for the next Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet.

Football, on the other hand, will again be a seven-a-side play, while basketball will follow its regular format instead of shifiting to a 3-on-3 event. — (FREEMAN)