Pangasinan gov opens Batang Pinoy leg

THE PHILIPPINE Olympic Commitee-Philippine Sports Commission Batang Pinoy Games shift its focus on young talents from Northern Luzon starting today at Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

A brief opening ceremony at 4 p.m. with Pangasinan Gov. Amado T. Espino Jr. as guest of honor will kick off the competition for kids 15 years and younger who will see action in arnis, athletics, badminton, boxing, chess, karatedo, lawn tennis, swimming, taekwondo and table tennis, aside from the scheduled national finals for cycling and baseball.

Pangasinan, which also hosted the Palarong Pambansa five months ago, is fielding 300 athletes in all sports with Alaminos City and Dagupan City represented by separate delegations.

Other athletes will come from Baguio City, Ilocos, La Union, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan and Zambales.

The POC-PSC Batang Pinoy Games launched the first of five qualifying legs in Marikina last month with the top athletes in these qualifiers advancing to the national championship in Iloilo City on Dec. 5 to 8.

Oriental Mindoro will host the Southern Luzon leg on Oct. 24 to 27 followed by Cagayan de Oro for the Mindanao leg on Nov. 7 to 10 and Tacloban in Leyte for the Visayas qualifier on Nov. 21 to 24.

Medalists in the national finals will make it to the developmental pool where they will train for possible slots in the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, two years from now.

The venues for the Northern Luzon leg are NRSCC (athletics and badminton), Pangasinan State University (arnis), Lingayen Plaza (boxing), Pangasinan training and development center (taekwondo), Alley building (table tennis), Pangasinan provincial library (chess) and Capitol beach front (baseball).