JEDDAH, 17 October 2007 — A highly charged basketball match marred the “Olympic Games” of Philippine schools being held in Jeddah, with one of the participating schools walking out of the competition.

Palm Crest International School, one of four schools in Riyadh that sent a delegation to the “Olympics,” decided to call it quits early yesterday, day four of the five-day event, saying its players have lost interest in playing as a result of the “threat” they received the night before.

Officials of the Philippine Sunrise International School (PSIS) of Jeddah, the host of the event, said Palm Crest’s walkout was triggered by a heated basketball game between its high school team and that of the Pearl of the Orient International School (POIS) of Jeddah.

As described by witnesses, the game was “rough” and it came to a head when a Palm Crest player fell on a POIS opponent while jumping for the ball.

To calm down passions, referees and other officials suspended the game to discuss what happened. The game was finally discontinued, with Palm Crest accusing a POIS player of threatening physical harm.

In a meeting called yesterday by PSIS Principal Ofelia La Guardia, games officials and leaders of the two schools sought to correct rumors circulating that their players were involved in a fight.

Both parties stressed that that “there was no bugbugan (melee), just pananakot (threat),” but they disagreed on the sequence of what happened.

Leo Ceballos, who led Palm Crest’s 200-strong delegation, said the basketball game was discontinued when one of the POIS players took an empty bottle and threatened to attack Palm Crest players.

He said the school decided to pull out from all the remaining events because their students and parents were worried.

“We traveled a thousand kilometers to join this event, but unfortunately, this happened unexpectedly,” said Ceballos, who is a member of the Palm Crest board of directors.

Riza Supero, head of the POIS team, said one of his players got hold of an empty bottle in protest only after officials decided to discontinue the basketball game.

Nonetheless, Supero apologized for what happened, and the Palm Crest delegates accepted it. As a gesture of friendship, she offered to host an acquaintance gathering between their two schools.

According to games chairman Ellie Sarmiento, Palm Crest brought the largest delegation from Riyadh with 200 students for the event, the second “Olympics” involving Philippine schools in the Kingdom’s two biggest cities.

The first of such games was held in Riyadh last year.

Aside from Palm Crest, POIS and PSIS, the other participating schools were the Second Philippine International School (SPIS), the International Philippine School in Riyadh (IPSR), the Riyadh International School (RIS), the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ), and Al-Hekma International School (AHIS of Jeddah).

Champions in the various sports events, including tennis, basketball, bowling, chess, volleyball, and badminton, will be known today.

The interschool games were timed with the one-week Eid break, which officially ended yesterday.