The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will hold qualifying legs in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao this year to pave the way for a wider field of talents in the Philippine National Games next year.
Project director Jay Alano said the initial search for new talents will start in Luzon on July 2 to 6 with majority of the events to be held at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Philsports and Marikina Sports Complex.
Pagadian City will play host to the Mindanao leg on Sept. 10 to 14 and Antique has been tapped as the venue for the Visayas qualifier on Nov. 10 to 14.
All the gold medalists in the qualifying legs will compete against the elite athletes of the national team during the national finals tentatively set in Pangasinan February next year.
“PSC chair Richie Garcia wanted to open the Games to a wider reach, so we can get the best athletes from these areas,” said Alano during the Philippine Sportswriters Association forum Tuesday at Shakey’s Malate.
In previous editions where the PNG was a one-time annual event, Alano said aspiring athletes from Mindanao and Visayas found it difficult to go to Manila.
“Now, we’re bringing the Games closer to them for a wider scope of athletes to choose from,” she said.
The PSC, chief organizer of the sportsfest for athletes 16 years old and above, has calendared 27 sports for the PNG, including 10 with qualifiers for every leg.
These are athletics, archery, arnis, badminton, boxing, chess, karatedo, billiards, swimming and taekwondo.
Alano added during the weekly forum backed by Accel and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation that PSC is confident of increasing the number of participants this year from 8,000 last year.
She said the PNG has produced several athletes for the national team, including cyclist Marella Salamat, who won the gold medal in the women’s individual time trial in the recent Southeast Asian Games in Singapore.