MANILA – University of Santo Tomas (UST) is set to be named as double champions in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 82, which was cut short due to coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.
UAAP Season 82 president Em Fernandez said that UST will be hailed as the juniors and seniors divisions overall champions in a “virtual” closing ceremony of the league sometime next month.
According to Fernandez, the league will be able to award the overall championship since more than two-thirds of the UAAP calendar for both high school and college levels were already played out.
“You have to remember that in the high school division, sixteen of the eighteen championships were awarded. In the collegiate division, twenty-one championships out of the thirty-one were given just to give you a perspective,” said Fernandez during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday.
UAAP commissioner Rebo Saguisag, for his part, said that they will do away with the traditional Athlete of the Year citation as not all student-athletes were given the chance to showcase their talents during the Season 82.
“May mga athletes na hindi nakapag-compete or hindi man lang nakatungtong fully. That is the wisdom why they decided to have an overall champion but not an Athlete of the Year,” said Saguisag.
The cancelled UAAP junior events due to the virus were athletics and lawn tennis while volleyball, football, baseball, softball, athletics, lawn tennis, and 3×3 basketball in the seniors level were either stopped or not played at all./PN
