Date set for 2017 Palarong Pambansa

The date is now set for the 60th Palarong Pambansa in Antique Province, which will be on April 23 to 29.

The national sporting conclave for elementary and secondary student-athletes was first calendared on April 10 to 16, but these dates coincide with Holy Week.

“It’s now final, the date will be on April 23 to 29,” the chief of Education Support Service Division of Department of Education (DepEd) Region 7 told SunStar Cebu.

Central Visayas will be preparing for another stint in the event with players selected from the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa), which wrapped up last month in City of Naga, southern Cebu.

Region 7 finished fourth overall last year with 29 gold medals, 31 silver medals and 29 bronze medals. As usual National Capital Region (NCR) dominated the sporting meet, racking up 104 gold medals, 57 silver medals and 48 bronze medals.

This year wushu, futsal, billiard and wrestling will be played as a regular sport. In the previous editions, the four sports were demo which means the medal won did not count on the region’s overall tally.

The bulk of the representative for Region 7 this year will come from Cebu City, who dominated the Cviraa with 144-64-77 medal haul, while majority of the reinforcements will come from Cebu Province, Mandaue City, Bohol Province and Lapu-Lapu City.

The other sporting events to be competed in are archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, football, gymnastics (MAG, WAG and RG), sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, lawn tennis and volleyball.

A total of 18 regions will be competing in the 2017 Palarong Pambansa, which will be hosted by Antique Province for the first time.