Batang Pinoy finals in Puerto Princesa

MANILA, Philippines — A spot in the national team for the Children of Asia Games in Russia next year will be up for grabs when the country’s best and brightest athletes converge in the National Finals of the Batang Pinoy Aug. 25 to 31 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

Batang Pinoy project director Guillermo Iroy of the Philippine Sports Commission said they will choose the most exceptional performers, not just gold medalists, in the weeklong multi-sports event for student athletes that will represent the Phl in the quadrennial Children of Asia scheduled Aug. 15-25 next year.

“We will select the athletes with the worthiest performances from this Batang Pinoy to be part of the national team we are sending to the Children of Asia Games,” said Iroy during yesterday’s memorandum of agreement signing by the PSC with host Puerto Princesa City and the Palawan province.

About 6,000 athletes are expected to compete in 31 sports disciplines, majority of whom have made the cut from the regional qualifying legs in Tagum, Davao del Norte, Iloilo City and Ilagan City, Isabela earlier in the year.

The sports that staged qualifying meets are centerpiece athletics, swimming, archery, arnis, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, dancesports, chess, futsal, karatedo, lawn tennis, pencak silat, sepak takraw, softball, table tennis, taekwondo and indoor and beach volleyball.

The rest – cycling, gymnastics, judo, billiards, muaythai, rugby football, triathlon, soft tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu – will hold their events straight to the National Finals.

Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron said they are excited to be given another chance to host the Batang Pinoy since it hosted the Batang Pinoy and the Palarong Pambansa more than a decade ago.

“We want to introduce Puerto Princesa as a sport tourism hub as well as promote sports and fitness to my cityfolks,” said Bayron.

Bayron also said a Puerto Princesa resident who will strike gold in the Batang Pinoy will receive P120,000 as incentive while a silver and a bronze are worth P80,000 and P40,000, respectively.

“It’s a city ordinance,” he said.

PSC commissioner Celia Kiram said Puerto Princesa and Palawan will receive P16 million worth of sports equipment for hosting the games.