BBEAL ushers 25th season

TEN sports disciplines takes center stage as the 25th season of the Baguio–Benguet Educational Athletic League gets underway August 13 with Pines City College hosting the annual collegiate competition.

Sports disciplines to be played in the first part of the competition are archery, badminton, chess, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, tae kwon do and arnis.

Also making its way in the first part of the competition is the centerpiece tournament of BBEAL, the men's and women's basketball and the crowd favorite men's and women's volleyball.

University of Baguio will defend its crown in the men’s basketball while the University of the Cordilleras seeks a repeat in the distaff with Saint Louis University eyeing another repeat in the men’s championship while UC will seek their seventh straight crown in the women’s side.

The UC Jaguars will be defending their crown in archery (men’s and women’s), men’s table tennis, and sepak takraw.

Aside from winning the men’s basketball, the UB Cardinals will also defend their crown in the men’s chess, men’s and women’s swimming, women’s table tennis, men’s tae kwon do, and the men’s and women’s arnis.

The SLU Navigators, meanwhile, will also seek another golden performance in the men and women’s badminton and women’s chess.

Boxing, football, judo, softball and tae kwon do will also be featured in the second phase of the season.

Closing out the 25th season, which will be played from January until the first week of February are arnis, athletics, baseball, dance sport, karate-do, lawn tennis and wushu.

BBEAL was organized in 1986 with just 7 member schools. Now the premier athletic league north of Manila has 9 member schools from Baguio City and Benguet, namely: Baguio Central University Eagles (BCU), Benguet State University Wildcats (BSU), Cordillera Career Development College Admirals (CCDC), and Philippine Military Academy Cavaliers (PMA).

Also in the fold is host Pines City Colleges Warriors (PCC), SLU, UB, UC, and University of the Philippines-Baguio Maroons (UP). (Roderick Osis)