Long regarded as the country's sports mecca, Negros Occidental has an active sporting calendar and prides itself as the breeding ground of the finest athletes in the country. From Las Vegas to Doha, Qatar, the Visayan DAILY STAR has chronicled the action, achievements and setbacks of Negrense athletes and gave readers the lowdown on the controversies that hound the local sports circle.

Such commitment started when the DAILY STAR printed its maiden issue in April 12, 1982. The section was then known as SportsStar under former sports editor Vic Salazar.

The DAILY STAR has kept a keen eye on local sporting talent. On the maiden issue, Salazar featured then 18-year-old swimming sensation Francisco Guanco. More than two years later, Guanco, represented the Philippines in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

In the May 1, 1982, the DAILY STAR, through a story written by Ramon Gan Alvañez, retraced the illustrious career of three former world boxing champions from La Carlota City - Pancho Villa (Francisco Guilledo), Small Montaña (Benjamin Ledesma Gan) and Little Dado (Eleuterio Zapanta).

Local sports heroes continued to emerge. Their feats demanded ink and the DAILY STAR was just as glad in providing them space to make sure that their fellow Negrenses get to celebrate their triumphs.

In August 1996, Bagoeño Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco hogged the DAILY STAR headline for winning the silver medal in the Atlanta Games. The bronze medal victories of older brother, Roel, in Barcelona in 1992 and Candoni's Leopoldo Serrantes in Seoul in 1988 also graced the DAILY STAR pages. On the Asian level, Bacoleños Joan Tipon and Elias Recaido as well as Bagoeño Reynaldo Galido also had their golden moments published by the STAR.

The girls' softball team of Paglaum Village National High School got headline treatment in August 2003 when it brought home the Junior League World Series Championship from Kirkland, Washington.

The DAILY STAR has regularly covered the Provincial Palaro, Regional Meet and Palarong Pambansa and kept track of the Negros Slashers before the Metropolitan Basketball Association folded up in 2002.

For the past 25 years, the DAILY STAR has continued to provide its readers stories on the local football, martial arts, table tennis, swimming and golf circuits, softball World Series, NOPSSCEA, Negros Basketball Association, the Negros Amateur Boxing Association, the University Games and the Philippine Basketball Association, among others.

The DAILY STAR also came up with an extensive coverage of the 2005 Southeast Asian Games in Bacolod City.

And just when some thought the DAILY STAR was slowing down, editor-in-chief Ninfa Leonardia covered the epic 11-round knockout win of Filipino icon and Bacolod's adopted son, Manny Pacquiao over Mexican Erik Morales, providing DAILY STAR readers with interesting sidelights on what had transpired at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. Some of the people who have contributed to the growth of the sports page but have moved on from the everyday grind at the DAILY STAR are former sports editor Eric Loretizo, business editor Ely Francis Tajanlangit, writers Christian Irl Tan, Nestor Padesio, Henry Villalva, Ericson Rios and Cloyd Orceo.

Adding color and action to the sports page are the photos of Andy Alvarez, who also convers other beats for the DAILY STAR.

Twenty-five years on, DAILY STAR sports' pledge of taking its readers closer to the action remains as firm as ever. *CPT

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