Batang Pinoy returns

MANILA, Philippines—The quest to find somebody who could strike gold in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games will start off in the revival of the Batang Pinoy Games.

Shelved for eight years, the sports gathering designed to discover athletes 15 years old and below switches back to life beginning with the Mindanao leg on November 27 to 30 in Zamboanga City.

It will be followed by four more regional legs—Visayas, Northern Luzon, National Capital Region and Southern Luzon—where the top performers from the 15 sports on schedule compete in the national championship in Naga City on December 10 to 13.

Unlike the school-based Palarong Pambansa, the BP games will cater to out-of-school youths through the joint effort of the Philippine Sports Commission and a host local government unit.

“We want to find a way to identify these athletes outside of the schools,” said PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez during Tuesday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue. “The winners will be named as potential participants to the Youth Olympic games.”

A total of 2,000 athletes are expected to participate in the Mindanao leg.

The PSC is targeting the same output in the Visayas (Dumaguete City, Nov. 10 to 13), Northern Luzon (Baguio City, Nov. 24 to 27), NCR (Nov. 29 to Dec. 2) and Southern Luzon (Sta. Cruz, Laguna, Dec. 4 to 7).

Athletes representing their provinces, cities or municipalities will compete in archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, chess, gymnastics, judo, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.