ILOILO CITY — Western Visayas (Region 6) is keenly keeping its avowed goal to snatch the overall championship title from defending champion National Capital Region (NCR) in the ongoing State Colleges and Universities Athletic Associations (SCUAA) National Olympics competition at the Iloilo Sports Complex here.

This, as the host region seems to have upended the Big City athletes' grip on athletics on the third day of hostilities involving 14 administrative regions of the country by garnering 10 golds, 4 silvers, and 4 bronzes in both men and women categories, as of press time.

A distant second is Southern Tagalog (Region 4) which took 4 golds, 5 silvers, and 3 bronzes. On third place is is NCR, having only 3 golds, 6 silvers, and 7 bronzes.

Not far behind is Central Luzon (Region 3) with 2 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes.

In men's football, a title showdown between Region 6 and NCR is looming with the host region chalking up its 3rd straight win against darkhorse Region 4, 2-1, on the first match of the day. In the second match, bitter rival NCR coasted to a 2-0 victory over a fighting Bicol Region (Region 5) also for its 3rd win in a row. Analysts say both NCR and Region 6 have equal chances, but pointed out that Region 6 is the more experienced team, and that could spell the difference come game time. (PNA)

LAM/AJP/ELTorrecampo/vlo