AT LEAST 20 sports are entered in the Batang Pinoy 2019 Mindanao Qualifying Leg slated February 3 to 9 in the Province of Davao del Norte.
Most sports, however, will be played at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum City.
Archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, dancesports, futsal, karatedo, lawn tennis, pencak silat, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, indoor volleyball and beach volleyball are sports that will be played in the regional qualifying.
However, sports that will be contested straight to the national championships include cycling, gymnastics, judo, Muay Thai, rugby football, triathlon, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.
The sportsfest, organized by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), will be held following the Davao Region Athletic Association (Davraa) Meet 2019 set in Davao City on January 27 to February 2, as bared by Department of Education (DepEd) Davao City Schools Division Superintendent Maria Ines Asuncion in a memorandum dated December 27, 2018 and addressed to public schools district supervisors, cluster heads, secondary school heads and elementary school heads of both public and private schools.
Davao del Norte provincial sports coordinator Giovanni Gulanes, in a Facebook interview yesterday, said: “No overlap with Davraa Meet.”
Gulanes said pre-Batang Pinoy Mindanao activities have already been lined up. A fun run for non-Batang Pinoy participants aged 15 years old and below is set on January 30.
“A refreshers course is set on February 2, solidarity meeting on February 3 in the morning and Holy Mass at 2 p.m. before the 3 p.m. assembly for the opening parade. In the evening will be the Governor's Night. The games proper will start on February 4,” Gulanes said.
A series of coordination meetings are being conducted, Gulanes added, to beef up preparations for the Batang Pinoy Mindanao staging.