UAAP says staging only 7 events in Season 84 ‘not an easy decision’

Photo from UAAP

MANILA, Philippines — The UAAP officials admitted it was a tough decision to bring back only seven sporting events this Season 84 amid the pandemic.

The UAAP is finally returning to action after a two-year hiatus with the men’s basketball tournament kicking off the season with an explosive quadruple-header on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.

However, the league will only stage seven events such as women’s volleyball, men’s beach volleyball, men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball, men’s and women’s chess, men’s and women’s poomsae, and the cheerdance competition in their comeback year.

UAAP executive director Atty. Rebo Saguisag explained the board was “left with a choice between bad to worse” in trimming down the sporting events for this season.

“It’s not an easy decision,” said Saguisag in the league launch on Wednesday at TV5 studios. “Number one, we have our contractual obligations with our partners. Number two, women’s volleyball was cut short in 2020.“

“We really have to trim down at least three main events and some other events that are relatively safe. It was a tough call, we had to say no to other events. But hopefully we will make up for it in the seasons to come,” he added.

UAAP Season 84 president Nong Calanog agreed to Saguisag, saying they had to pick the events with short tournament formats due to the ongoing pandemic.

“Those sports actually have very short tournament formats. One day, two days and three days, and very few participants. Those were the actual criteria we set to decide on which sports to run,” said Calanog of host school La Salle.

The UAAP officials said that they are working to bring back all the events next season, which will be hosted by Adamson.

But for now, the league is focused on its upcoming events, especially the men’s basketball tournament, where it seeks to bring back the fans in the second round of eliminations.

RELATED STORIES