BATANG PINOY 2019. Pangasinan athletes with their coach show off their medals in the recent Batang Pinoy held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan from Aug. 25 to 31, 2019. Pangasinan ranks sixth out of the 251 local government units which competed this year. (Photo courtesy of Pangasinan provincial government)
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- The 202 delegates of Pangasinan brought home 25-30-26 gold-silver-bronze medal haul, landing them in the sixth place in the just concluded Batang Pinoy championships held at Puerto Princesa, Palawan from August 25 to 31.
During the Pangasinan in Action forum Tuesday, Pangasinan Sports Development and Management Council (PSDMC) executive officer Modesto Operania said the athletes competed in archery, arnis, athletics, basketball, boxing, karatedo, sepak takraw, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, beach volleyball, triathlon, wrestling, and wushu.
Operania noted the delegation of the province was composed of 138 athletes, 49 coaches, and 19 delegation officials.
“We were saddened that road race or cycling was cancelled since we are confident that our 16 athletes can compete well in that sports event. We could even get gold if it wasn’t cancelled, we could have maintained our ranking last year (fifth placer),” he said.
Operania explained that cycling event was cancelled by the organizers due to safety issues of the athletes.
He admitted that cycling is one of the edges of Pangasinan against the other 250 local government units all over the country that joined Batang Pinoy, aside from basketball and archery.
Prior to their national championship event, Pangasinan contingents competed in the Batang Pinoy Luzon qualifying leg held in Isabela in March.
They also underwent an in-house training sponsored by the provincial government from Aug. 4 to 15 at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center here.
Batang Pinoy is a grassroots-based national sports competition for under 15 years old, including out-of-school youths. (PNA)
