Nat’l Games q’fier starts Thursday

BUSTLING with excitement, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex will turn into a playground of future national athletes when the Luzon qualifying leg of the 2015 POC-PSC Philippine National Games fires off Thursday.

Aspiring athletes from Northern and Southern Luzon began arriving yesterday in anticipation of the week-long competition where seven of the 23 sports take centerstage at different venues right on opening day.

Baseball, boxing, lawn tennis and volleyball will go full throttle at RMSC, archery will be held at Sevilla Archery Range in Novaliches while sepak takraw and chess are scheduled at Marikina Sports Center and Makati Coliseum, respectively.

“We need fresh talents for the national team,” said Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia.

The PNG has become the primary source of athletes for the country in recent years with at least 50 discoveries from cycling, track and field, sepak takraw, muay, boxing, table tennis and wrestling, among others.

Garcia said this year’s edition will have three qualifying legs. The Mindanao leg is scheduled Sept. 10 to 14 in Pagadian City while Antique will host the Visayas leg on Nov. 10 to 14.

All gold medalists in these qualifiers will advance to the national finals tentatively set in Pangasinan in February and compete against the elite athletes of the national team.

“We wanted to open the Games to these areas, so we can get the best athletes in the country,” said PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez.

As of yesterday, PNG project director Jay Alano said more than 1,900 athletes from the region have signed up for all 23 sports.

Other sports to be played in the Luzon meet are arnis, athletics, badminton, billiards, cycling, dancesport, fencing, football, judo, karatedo, rugby football, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, underwater hockey and wrestling.