FIVE days before the opening rites, the Philippine Sports Commission yesterday said its preparations for the 2023 Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games are on target this Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
As of yesterday, close to 14,000 athletes aged 17 and below are set to take centerstage in the BP while almost 4,000 athletes aged 18 and above are set to showcase their talents in the PNG.
“These games represent another significant milestone in our commitment to promote sports excellence and development of our young athletes. We are fully committed to providing a world-class platform for our athletes to showcase their talents and compete at the highest level,” said PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann.
The simultaneous staging of the BP and PNG will feature 25 sports, namely, archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball 3×3, boxing, chess, cycling, dancesport, football, gymnastics, judo, karatedo, kickboxing, lawn tennis, muay thai, pencak silat, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, beach volleyball, wrestling, weightlifting and wushu.
“We want to provide the best possible exposure for athletes in the Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games. There’s a lot of learning that we got from competitions abroad like the way they conduct it from the registration, the pre-game up to the actual competition, and post-game,” said Executive Director Paulo Tatad.
To further fuel up the flagship advocacy of advancing the country’s grassroots sports program, the sports agency partnered with private organizations and institutions such as the Philippine Basketball Association, Milo Philippines, Otsuka Solar-Pocari Sweat, PLDT and Smart Communications, Grab, Chooks To Go, and Shakey’s Philippines.
