Zamboanga City to host ‘Batang Pinoy’

ZAMBOANGA City will play host to young Mindanao athletes who will compete for the first leg of Batang Pinoy qualifying games.

The Batang Pinoy Games is a competition designed for athletes 15-year-old and below.

Jose Luis Gomez of the Philippines Sports Commission said the qualifying games are scheduled from October 27 to 30.

Gomez, on behalf of the Philippines Sports Commission (PSC), and Mayor Celso Lobregat representing the City Government signed Wednesday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the staging of the Mindanao leg of the newly revived Batang Pinoy Games.

Gomez said the PSC chose Zamboanga City as host of the Batang Pinoy Mindanao leg because of the city sports facilities, which are of international standards.

Gomez added that they were also impressed with the active participation of local sports organizations.

He said the Batang Pinoy Games, which was last held in 2004 in Puerto Princesa City, is being revived to boost the country’s search for future national team standouts.

He said they hope to discover athletes with potential in archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, chess, gymnastics, judo, swimming, tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, wrestling and weightlifting.

He said the other regional legs will be held in Dumaguete City (Visayas Leg), Sta. Cruz, Laguna (Southern Luzon Leg), Baguio City (Northern LuzonLeg) and Makati City (National Capital Region Leg).

The winners in the regional leg will compete in the national championships scheduled to be held from December 10 to 13 in Naga City. (Bong Garcia)