THE Batang Pinoy national finals was supposed to be held this month and the various regional qualifiers were supposed to be held two months back.
However, due to scheduling concerns the regionals and national finals were moved two months forward. The tournament is for athletes 15-under and below and the postponement has led to some who would turn 16 getting disqualified since their birthdays fall on the two months that the event was moved.
Take the national finals, now to be held in February. Those who turn 16 in January learned belatedly during the regional qualifiers that they were no longer eligible.
Ouch. That they prepared months at end for the tournament makes the disqualification--though not their own fault--very frustrating. I think this is one aspect the PSC should be mindful of when postponing tournaments like the Batang Pinoy, which has an age limit.
It would have been better if because of the postponement, the cut-off date they would use would still be for the original dates as the athletes continually prepare for the tournament even if it gets postponed.
I heard one athlete in chess got disqualified due to the new date, while another parent, whose child is in taekwondo, also said her child got disqualified during the Visayas leg.
I raised the issue with PSC Ramon Fernandez the other day and he said that’s one aspect they’d look into.
The PSC has quite a busy schedule for the Visayas next year as they are going to take their Children’s games all over the region. In fact, they are fully booked every weekend for the first six months of the year. That’s not counting the national finals of the Batang Pinoy and the Philippine National Games, which will now be in May.
Originally scheduled in December, it was moved to February and finally in May . (Thankfully, that one doesn’t have an age limit.
“The Palaro will be in the third week of April, the Prisaa nationals will be after that. I want the athletes to have 15 days recovery for the PNG,” said Fernandez.
Only a select few who will be in the Palaro will also be in the Prisaa and PNG, but these are the few we want to see take on the best—plus members of the national team.