The UAAP will crown the University of Santo Tomas (UST) as the general champion of its abruptly ended Season 82 in an online awarding ceremony.
During the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday, UAAP executive director Rebo Saguisag and Season 82 president Em Fernandez said the completion of games in more than two-thirds of the league calendar made UST a valid champion.
Prior to the season’s suspension, UST led the general championship tally of Season 82 with 209 points, followed by De La Salle University and Ateneo De Manila University with 181 and 161, respectively.
The closing ceremony will be produced by ABS-CBN, the league’s broadcast partner. As the network remains off air, the ceremony will be broadcast online, Saguisag said.
The league also plans to play out Season 83 in the first half of 2021, condensing all 15 sports in six months, “South East Asian (Sea) Games” style.
“”Di ba ang Sea Games tinatapos lahat within two weeks? What’s stopping the UAAP from doing the same? That’s for the events. Kung ang volleyball season runs from February to May, what’s stopping the UAAP running basketball side-by side with the volleyball tournament? Nothing,” Fernandez said.
The NCAA recently announced that only four sports, basketball, volleyball, swimming and track and field, will be played in its 96th season next year.
But the UAAP plans to have a full calendar.
“We are planning to have a full calendar but that’s dependent on the government and the schools themselves. These are students. Normalcy in the schools will take precedence,” Fernandez said.
“Kung normal na ang pasok either online or face-to-face, maybe we can talk about UAAP sports. But right now, [as for the] full calendar [and] when it will start, based on what the government stated — [and] PSC said no tournaments until December of 2020 — we’re looking at the first quarter of 2021,” he said.
DLSU will host Season 83. John Ezekiel J. Hirro