This city known as the ‘Tuna Capital of the Philippines’ rolls out the red carpet for 24,000 delegates-19,000 of them athletes-for the 14th staging of the Batang Pinoy in what is expected to be a spectacular opening ceremony on Saturday afternoon at the Antonio Acharon Sports Complex.
No less than the region’s most beloved and world-famous son, boxing Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao, and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, the country’s Olympic gold medalist from Zamboanga City, headline an elite list of guests in the opening ceremony prepared by the city’s chief executive, Lorelie Ocmar Geronimo Pacquiao.
‘People’s Champ’ Pacquiao will highlight the torch relay and lighting of the cauldron for the weeklong games featuring athletes aged 17 and below from 179 cities and provinces all over the country.
The Batang Pinoy is one of the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) flagship programs for grassroots development and no less than chairman Patrick ‘Pató’ Gregorio will deliver before the keynote address before the delegates that also include 4,397 coaches.
‘Without Batang Pinoy, the country’s grassroots program will not happen,’ said Gregorio, who was all over this week-in Bahrain for the Asian Youth Games where more than 150 Filipino athletes also aged under 18 years old and in Siargao, for the World Surf League Qualfying Series.
There are 27 sports-archery, athletics, aquatics, arnis, basketball 3×3, boxing, chess, cycling, dance sports, futsal, gymnastics, jiu-jitsu, judo, kickboxing, karate, muay, pencak silat, sepak takraw, soft tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, beach volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu-in this year’s program of the Batang Pinoy which began in 1999 and interrupted only in 2003, 2010, 2020 amnd 2021.
Pasig City was the general champion last year in Puerto Princesa City with 105 gold, 64 silver and 116 bronze medals.
The Local Government Unit that emerges overall champion will again get a P5-million incentive from the PSC, with the second to fifth placers receiving P4 million, P3 million, P2 million and P1 million, respectively.