BAGUIO CITY – The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) confirmed that Baguio City retained the overall crown in the 2018 batang pinoy national championships held in the country’s undisputed Summer Capital last September 17-21, 2018.
Local athletes snared 85 golds, 81 silvers and 104 bronzes in the week-long sports competition held in various sports venues in Baguio and Benguet that allowed them to lead the way during the duration of the prestigious national sports event for the youth aged 15 and below.
Last year, Baguio City garnered the overall championship during the 2017 Batang Pinoy games which was held in Tagum City, Daveo del Norte even if some of the local athletes were not able to play in their designated schedules due to delays in their arrivals to the host local locality.
Cebu landed in second place with a medal haul of 37-40-44 gold-silver-bronze followed by Laguna with 33-13-31 medal haul which is good for third place finish.
Quezon City came in at close fourth place with 32-17-17 gold-silver-bronze medals while Pangasinan placed fifth with 22-21-21 gold-silver-bronze medals.
Based on the data from the PSC, some 155 local governments from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao joined the week-long sports competition wherein 28 sports were played around the city and nearby La Trinidad town.
The Baguio delegation will be bringing home the P3 million cash prize for the overall champion while Cebu will be receiving the P2.5 million earmarked for the second place finisher in the said youth games.
Laguna will be entitled to the P2 million third place cash reward, Quezon City will be receiving P1.5 million fourth place cash prize while Pangasinan will be entitled to P1 million cash prize.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan extended the local government’s congratulatory message to all the athletes and sports officials comprising the Baguio delegation who displayed their prowess in combative sports that allowed the city to retain its title in the sports competition.
Further, he also expressed the city’s gratitude to all those who extended their support in the hosting of the national sports competition that allowed the city to be included by the PSC as one of its regional training centers to inspire more youngsters to be involved in sports.
Domogan said that he will convene the City Sports Development Committee to decide on how will the local government use the cash prize to further advance the involvement of the youth in sports to help the city continue its reign in various local, regional, national and even international sports competitions.
Earlier, PSC officials turned over to the local government the P8 million cash prize of the city after it emerged as the second placer in the Philippine National Games which was conducted in Cebu last May 2018.
He explained that the local government, upon consultation with concerned stakeholders, will use the accumulated cash prizes to fund an impact project in the development of grassroots to inspire the in-school and out-of-school youth to be actively involved in sports.
By Dexter A. See
