SOME UAAP student-athletes might have not been able to finish, or even suit up, in the 82nd season that was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.
No worries.
The league will fittingly give them due recognition in a virtual two-hour closing ceremony set to be held sometime in July.
Season 82 host Ateneo will also formally turn over the hosting duties to La Salle for the UAAP’s 83rd season likely to open early next year.
“At the end of the day, these athletes were part of Season 82. Even if they weren’t able to play, they were still a part of Season 82, so we want to have an angle that we want to say that these sports or these athletes, they existed,” outgoing UAAP president Emmanuel Fernandez of Ateneo said last Tuesday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum streamed online.
“Hindi siya biglang nawala. We don’t want to say na wala sila because they weren’t able to play. We want to highlight the events that were not finished,” he added.
The remainder of the 82nd season was terminated last April 7 due to the government-imposed lockdown to stem the spread of the lethal virus. The much-awaited women’s volleyball tourney, along with football, baseball, softball, athletics, lawn tennis, and 3í—3 basketball, was scrapped.