Antique rides high on Palaro hosting

MANILA, Philippines - Antique hopes to sustain its gains from its Palarong Pambansa hosting last April, convinced the event was the right step towards attaining the countryside development through sports in the province.

“Antique’s hosting of the Palarong Pambansa was a tremendous success. It put our province on the map and we will continue to work hard to spur development of Antique through sports,” said Antique Gov. Rhodora Cadiao.

She added that the Palaro hosting should serve as an inspiration to other provinces that they can also hold such an event in the future.

“Through the values that sports gives like teamwork and camaraderie, we proved that even a small province like Antique can overcome risks and pull off a hosting of such a big event like the Palarong Pambansa,” said Cadiao.

She said the Palaro hosting proved to be an inspiration for the Antiqueños, who saw for themselves high-quality sporting competition from elementary and secondary athletes from all over the country.

Cadiao added the 60th Palaro now encourages the youth of Antique to get into sports as the province seeks to develop more athletes who can become members of future national teams.

The Binirayan Sports Complex, the main hub of the Palaro, will be maintained to encourage more Antiqueños to get into sports.

“The Palarong Pambansa inspired a lot of Antiqueños to go into sports, thanks to the success stories of the athletes from all over the country. We hope to develop national athletes out of the province’s hosting of the Palaro,” said Cadiao.

She expects a rapid development of the province following the successful staging of the annual games.