HUNT STARTS FOR BATANG PINOY GOLD
Medal rich swimming, athletic events kick off today in Dumaguete After holding qualifiers, Cebu Province hopes to make impact in athletics 2,500 athletes from Visayas join week-long tournament in Dumaguete
Cebu’s athletes will look to capture the first gold medal in the medal-rich events--swimming and athletics-- as the 2017 Batang Pinoy Visayas Qualifiers kick off in various fields in Dumaguete today.
The athletics event will take place in the Gov. Mariano Paredes Memorial Stadium, while swimming will be at Lorenzo G. Teves Memorial Aqua Center.
Cebu Province is hoping to get a good jumpstart in athletics as it will be fielding 17 tracksters for the 15-under competition organized by the Philippines Sports Commission (PSC).
“We will be joining in all the track and field events. The track and field team has prepared for this. Hopefully they can contribute medals for Cebu Province,” track and field coach Francis Berizo said in Cebuano.
The Cebu Province track and field squad has nine girls and eight boys from Camotes, Daan Bantayan, Minglanilla, Oslob and students from Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) in Mandaue.
“The training of the students is whole-year round, for the last two months we’ve been focusing on their training for Batang Pinoy,” said Berizo.
The Cebu City Niños are also hoping to start strong in athletics and will field 18 trackters—10 boys and eight girls.
“We have prepared for this event actually. The athletes here are the medalists of the Milo Little Olympics Visayas last month. I hope they exceed the expectation and perform at their best,” said Cebu City’s Ernesto Ybañez Jr.
Cebu Province Sports Com- mission (CPSC), led by executive director Atty. Ramil Abing, held various qualifiers in Cebu to select players for Cebu Province in the 2017 Batang Pinoy Visayas Qualifiers.
“We’re hoping to get good number of qualifiers for the Batang Pinoy Championships (which is set in February next year),” said Abing.
The elimination rounds in archery, arnis, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, dancesports, karatedo, lawn tennis, pencak silat, sepak takraw, softball, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and beach volleyball will also start today.
The sporting conclave officially kicked off yesterday with an opening ceremony at the Lamberto L. Macias Sports and Cultural Center.
Around 2,500 athletes from 43 cities and municipalities were welcomed by Dumaguete City Mayor by Felipe Antonio Remollo. /