By Rodrigo S. Victoria

Naval, Biliran (20 October) -- It could be the first time in the history of the yearly regional State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA) 2006 here in Eastern Visayas that the officiating officials of some major sports events will be officiated by members coming from the different nationally acclaimed sports organizations in the country like the sports event in basketball, softball, volleyball, soccer football and boxing.

In an interview today during the special PIA Kapihan at Radyo Natin-Naval with Leoncio Sambitan, sports coordinator of the Naval Institute of Technology (NIT) and at the same time the over-all sports coordinator of the 22nd State Colleges and Universities Athetic Association (SCUAA) meet this year, he revealed that some major sports events will be officiated by members of well-known sports organization nationally known for their expertise in their respectivew field of sports event.

He said that what makes this year’s SCUAA meet different from the past SCUAA meets is that the officiating officials came only from selected personnel coming from the different state colleges and universities in the region who are the usual official participants in the regional sports event.

Sambitan mentioned that basketball games will be officiated by Philippine Basketball League (PBL), accredited referees who have already been officiating amateur and professional basketball leagues in the country.

He added that the volleyball games for this year’s SCUAA will be officiated also by referees of the Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF), a nationally and internationally accredited association of referees of volleyball game.

The soccer football game, a group ball game that now draws more attention among the youth in the province of Biliran, will be officiated by referees coming from the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), Sambitan said.

In the case of softball games that will be played by men and women representing the different athletic delegations, umpires coming from the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) – Philippines will be the one to officiate the softball games for this year’s SCUAA, he added.

The NIT sports coordinator also said that the boxing event that will be held in the New Naval Gymnasium will be officiated by referees coming from the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP). However, the organization has tapped only the services of ABAP accredited boxing referees coming from Ormoc City.

He said that the boxing matches that will probably be hotly contested by six schools with complete entries to be held at the still unfinished New Naval Gymnasium will be one of the much awaited sports events of the SCUAA 2006 since Navaleños as well as Biliranons are avid enthusiasts of the game.

Meanwhile, Sambitan disclosed that NIT chooses four previous SCUAA players of the school who excelled in their respective field of sports and had brought honors to the school to carry the lighted torch during the opening ceremony on Sunday (October 22).

He mentioned the names of David Stetson, Remegio Dela Cruz, Freddie Nazario, all gold medalists in athletics and Romeo Baco who earned the highest points in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meter runs to be the designated torch bearers that will light the ceremonial torch during the opening day to signal the official opening of the regional sports event.

He further said that the host school is expecting some 3,000 athletes and officials coming from the 11 participating athletic delegations which is supposed to be composed of 12 delegations had the University of the Philippines (UP)-Tacloban not declined to participate lately.