MANILA -- The 2nd Asia Pacific University Games (APUG) will be held in Cebu City on Dec. 6-11, the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines (FESSAP) announced Friday.
It will be the second time the multi-sport competition will be hosted by the University of Cebu (UC), which won the table tennis event two years ago. The Nippon Sports University of Japan then bagged the basketball title while the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) of Malaysia was crowned badminton champion.
UC College of Law Dean, Atty. Baldomero Estenzo, was appointed chairman of the organizing committee of the games by the Asia Pacific University Sports Union (APUSU).
Estenzo, who is FESSAP vice president, will be assisted by APUSU secretary general, Prof. Mustaza Ahmad.
Mustaza, who is also secretary general of the Malaysian University Sports Council and director of the UiTM Sports Center, said this year's tournament will have four sports with the inclusion of lawn tennis.
"We started with three sports in 2015 and now, we have four. In the future, we can have more sports," he said in an online interview on Thursday.
He said he is glad that more countries are taking interest in joining the APUG, as he mentioned the confirmation of Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Japan.
"Our target is to have more participants. We want to make this tournament bigger in the future," said Mustaza, adding that two other schools from Malaysia are joining the tournament.
The APUSU is headed by Filipino philanthropist and sportsman Alvin Tai Lian, who chairs the FESSAP, an organization that was established in 1999 and is a member of the International University Sports Federation based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Meanwhile, FESSAP also announced the Philippine hosting of the 1st Asia Pacific University Swimming Championship in April next year.
FESSAP executive vice president, Prof. Robert Milton Calo of the Philippine Inter Schools, Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (PISCUAA), said Iloilo or Pampanga is being considered as the venue of the tournament, which will have entries from Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Papua New Guinea and South Korea.
The FESSAP Aquatic Club headed by Calo will take charge of the preparation and conduct of the swimming championship.
The other members are Allan Soria of the State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA), Ivy Sta. Ana of the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA), Edgar Galeno, Jim Justin Jalseburge Ang, Emer Matienzo, and Dennis Antonio Cordero. (PNA)
