Limpag: The PNG returns

AS one of the youngest correspondents in the local sportswriting scene back in 1997, I remember I was very excited about Cebu’s hosting of the Philippine National Games (PNG) in December that year. A commentary on the PNG as a high school sophomore I wrote during the National Schools Press Conference a few years prior had me winning third, so I was pretty excited to finally see what the PNG was about.

The commentary was a reaction to whether the PNG should be continued as is or should be changed. In 1997, less than five years after it was launched, they were talking already about a revival.

That was 21 years ago. Since then, the PNG has seen numerous revivals and revisions but now, the latest revision is what I like best since members of the national teams--at least those sports included in the PNG calendar--are required to suit up for their hometowns. There’s also a separate PSC-funded team for Filipino-foreigners who want to compete in the PNG, making it truly a competition of the best in the country.

I remember a few years back, when the national teams in beach volleyball fared poorly against a Cebu beach volleyball team, those players lost their slots. One of the Cebuanos of that champion team--Jade Becaldo--has since become a regular fixture in the national squad.

That’s the biggest advantage of making the national teams compete in a meet like the PNG; you give others who may have been overlooked a chance to show what they can do. If they are better than the current members of the national team, that will eventually show and these overlooked players will finally get the chance they’ve been wanting, to represent the country.

This year’s PNG won’t be just hosted by Cebu City alone, but also by Danao City, Lapu-Lapu, Tabuelan, Naga City and Cebu Province. After months of confusion as to who will do what, the kinks in the hosting have been finally settled about two months before the hosting, which was postponed twice, I think.

The matches that will be hosted in Tabuelan and Danao are expected to be a huge draw, considering there won’t be any other major events in those towns during those times, but I hope the events in the cities will also attract a huge crowd.

This will be a chance for the Cebuanos to see the best athletes in the country in action, and that’s something you don’t get to see every year.

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