WITH more than 7,000 athletes and coaches expected to join the upcoming staging of the Batang Pinoy national finals in Baguio and Benguet on September 15-21, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte is being pursued to grace the occasion.
Although the President has yet to confirm his attendance, Baguio City Sports Division head Gaudencio Gonzales said the city is hopeful Duterte will grace the opening of the weeklong sports grassroots program of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
“We already sent an invitation. Hopefully pumayag siya,” said Gonzales.
Just last week, PSC technical personnel were in the city to meet with their counterparts to discuss the preparations to be undertaken by the concerned government agencies and the local government in the hosting of the youth games which will be hosted for the first time by both Baguio and Benguet.
At least 1,600 athletes, coaches and sports officials will be coming from Luzon, 1,500 will be coming from Mindanao, 1,400 will be from Visayas, 900 will be athletes who will go direct to the finals, which will all be billeted in Baguio, and another 1,500 will be billeted in Benguet.
Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan tasked the officials and personnel of the education department’s City Schools Division to prepare for the grand opening program of the Batang Pinoy national finals so participants from the different parts of the country will remember Baguio city and Benguet as gracious hosts for such sports competition considering the fact that it is the first time for both local governments to host a big sports event.
PSC chairman William Butch Ramirez will be in town on August 30, 2018 for the formal signing of the memorandum of agreement between the sports body and the local government headed by Domogan to seal the city’s hosting of the third largest sports competition being staged in the different parts of the country annually.
PSC point person for Batang Pinoy Gloria Quintos, meanwhile during last week’s coordination meeting said the number of delegates could increase in the coming days considering the deadline for submission of entries in the different sports disciplines will be on August 13, 2018.
Quintos explained the initial estimate for the Batang Pinoy participants was based on the figures during the staging of the long running sports games for the athletes aged 15 years and below in the previous years.
Batang Pinoy games is being conducted annually in the different parts of the country to discover potential athletes from the grassroots who will be trained to represent the country in future national, regional and international sports competitions and sustain the haul of coveted medals in the same competitions to give pride and honor to the country.
Some 27 events will be played in the different playing venues in Baguio City and Benguet wherein 21 sports disciplines will be played in the city while 6 sports events will be played by the participating athletes in the playing venues in La Trinidad town.
All the playing venues were already evaluated and assessed by the PSC technical personnel who were in the city over the past weeks. (Roderick Osis)