DAGUPAN CITY – At least 2,500 athletes from the different public and private schools, including basketball and volleyball, are seeing action in the 2017 Dagupan City Athletic Association (DCAA) Division Meet which opened on October 11 in a ceremony held at Jimmy L. Fernandez Stadia.
With the theme “Strengthening partnership through Sports” the DCAA 2017 Division Meet, in collaboration with the Department of Education under Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Lorna G. Bugayong, the Dagupan City Sports Commission under Finnela T. Sim and the city government of Dagupan, aims to discover the best talents among the city’s pool of talented athletes during the entire duration of the meet to represent the city in the upcoming Region 1 Athletic Association (R1AA) meet.
Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, in her message, noted how the Batang Dagupeño continues to excel in different sports for the last two years as can be gleaned from their performance in the R1AA.
“From being just the Best in Uniform before, Dagupan City now ranked 2nd in this year’s R1AA meet, won gold in Palarong pambansa for swimming and now we also conquered the Southeast Asian Games,” said Fernandez.
She then congratulated the two distinct Batang Dagupeño, Agatha Chrystenzen Fernandez Wong and Jayson Ramil Ordonez Macaalay, who won gold and silver medals in wushu and karatedo, respectively in the recent SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Wong won one gold in Wushu Women’s Taijiquan and one silver in Wushu Women’s Optional Taijiquan while Macaalay is silver medalist in the Karatedo Minus 60 kg Kumite.
Both were present during the DCAA 2017 opening ceremony and were presented with Certificates of Recognition by the DCAA and cash incentives courtesy of CSI.
Fernandez thanked Wong and Macaalay for bringing pride and honor to the city and for being inspirations to the city’s young athletes.
“This means that Dagupan athletes have great potential in winning national and international sports competition dahil ang batang Dagupenyo ay magaling, mabait at maka-Diyos. Ito ang Balon Dagupan,” added Fernandez.
She also commended the coaches and training staff for their effort and dedication in developing the city’s athletes and for bringing out the best in them.
At the same time, Fernandez assured the athletes that the city government is behind their journey towards sports supremacy and promised to support their training, provide their needs, and give them incentives.
Fernandez encouraged other young Dagupenyos to engage in sports to remain healthy and to develop discipline and determination to succeed in life.
The more than 2,500 athletes from public and private schools who are seeing action in 2017 DCAA Division Meet, including basketball and volleyball, is more than double the 900 participants during the first edition of DCAA Meet in 2015. (Joseph C. Bacani/CIO/Oct. 11, 2017)