Palaro 2024 playing venues bared

Except for chess, the organizing committee headed by Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) chairman John Pages has revealed the official playing venues for the highly anticipated 64th Palarong Pambansa scheduled five months from now.

A total of 24 events and four special games will be contested in the week-long sports conclave set to kick off with an elaborate rites on July 9 at the Cebu City Sports Center. It will wind up on July 16.

The medal-rich athletics and swimming will be at the CCSC, which is undergoing a massive facelift right now, while basketball action will take place at Cebu City Sports Institute, University of San Carlos-Main and USC-North, and Cebu Eastern College (CEC).

Archery at the Filinvest/ SRP, arnis at the University of the Visayas (UV), dancesport at Gmall, football at the Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC), CCSC, Dynamic Herb Sports Complex, and USC-Talamban, futsal at DBTC, table tennis at Cebu Technological University (CTU)-Main, and taekwondo and wrestling at SM Seaside City.

The lawn tennis battle will be at Citi Green/Alta Vista/Villa Aurora/Camp Lapu-Lapu Tennis Club, volleyball at the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), and gymnastics at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U), and Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma.

Competition in sepak takraw will be at SHS-Ateneo, pencak silat at Il Corso Mall, softball and baseball at Filinvest City de Mare, wushu at University of Cebu (UC)-METC, badminton at MetroSports Center, billiards at City Mall, and boxing at the Cebu Coliseum.

Special games in swimming and athletics will be at the sports center, with bocce and goal ball at Bright Academy.

This marks for the first time in 30 years that the Queen City of the South is playing host to the prestigious school-based tournament among elementary and secondary student-athletes all over the country and third overall since 1954. The city previously staged the Palaro way back in 1994.