All games have to be cancelled this week. There had been games in the past few months that were postponed due to power outages but not in successive days.
This week was the worst time so far, that ongoing tournaments at the Gilbert C. Ada Gym and Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field in Oleai Sports Complex get affected by the island’s impending power crisis.
The CUC managed to spare the said sports facilities from power outages while the 2008 Oceania Championship was being held from June 25 to June 28, and the Asia-Pacific Regional Little League Baseball Tournament from June 28 to July 3.
After giving way to these big sports events, the interrupted Inter-government/business Basketball Tournament and the Saipan Major League that started earlier this year resumed only last month. Unfortunately, they have to bear with the load shedding schedule that needs to resume also.
The CUC’s latest schedule put the entire grid of Kiya 4 to two-hours load shedding. From Aug. 2 to 8, the villages where the electricity are connected to Kiya 4 are scheduled from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Susupe where the island’s main sports facilities are located gets the power from Kiya 4.
Gary Camacho in an interview yesterday said this schedule may still change. However, he has been in constant communication with the Sports and Recreation so that can work together in rescheduling the games of the ongoing leagues.
Camacho confirmed that the sports community, particularly the SML organizers called the CUC and raised some concerns because there were times some villages, including Susupe get unscheduled power outages.
Camacho admitted that some of the schedules were not being followed due to unforeseen situations at the Power Plant.
The CUC is still working on the rehabilitation and maintenance of engines and generators at the Power Plant 1 which requires load shedding. Camacho said everybody on the island has to share the problem equally.
In a separate interview, SML president Tony Rogolifoi said they had to hold the playoff series until next week after the CUC informed them that load shedding will continue up to weekend.
Four SML teams are still battling it out for this year’s championship.
The Rangers and the Falcons have yet to go on with Game 3 which was stalled by power outages more than once last week. Pennant champion Rocky Steady and D9ers still face Game 2 and if necessary, Game 3 of their playoffs.
Rogolifoi said they also want to keep abreast with CUC’s load shedding schedules so that they could come up with their own games schedules based on that.
However, if the CUC made changes in its schedule even in the last minute, they will resume the games right away.
The Inter-government/business Basketball Tournament also has to wait until next week to continue the remaining few games of the regular season.
Basketball league organizers are those continuously having a hard time with disrupted games since there are still other annual leagues that need to be held this year.
