2024 Batang Pinoy in Puerto Princesa, begins on Nov. 23

IN LESS than three weeks, Puerto Princesa will host the highly anticipated grassroots program of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the 2024 Batang Pinoy, which will commence on November 23, 2024. 

With the purpose of nurturing local or grassroots talent in sports, the PSC plans to release another version of Batang Pinoy this year and begin grooming younger talent for larger international tournaments. 

In a press conference of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum on Tuesday, PSC Executive Director Paolo Tatad stated that a few more hiccups are being worked out and that it will be ready.

“We’ve done all the meetings that we can, but we’re still having meetings in preparation for the event this month,” said the executive director at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

All across the country

Core member Anna Ruiz also stated that they are now holding a delegation registration meeting with Local Government Units (LGUs) in the Visayas and Mindanao till November 7, when they will complete with Luzon. 

Currently, 12,000 delegates from 177 LGUs are anticipated to compete in the tournament for athletes aged 12 to 17 across 30 sports. This is also a celebration of the event’s silver anniversary, which began in 1999. 

This large group of members, not to mention the 1,000 technical committee, will temporarily reside at 29 different schools across Puerto Princesa, which can accommodate 15,000 people.

All approved sports will be held in Palawan, with the exception of gymnastics, which will be held in Manila. According to Tatad, a few sports will make their comebacks during this year’s event.

“One is comebacking sport in soft tennis. Obstacle sports, which used to be a demo sport, are now considered a regular sport, and then we have jiu-jitsu and kurash as first-timers,” said Tatad.

The 2024 Batang Pinoy will include three brackets competing for the 1,554 gold medals: 12-13 years old, 14-15 years old, and 16-17 years old. 

The PSC executive director also thanked the local government of Puerto Princesa City for hosting what he described as the government sports agency’s final quarter storm. 

Tatad also stated that Batang Pinoy will be around for as long as their commission is in operation, which is something LGUs, families, and, most importantly, young athletes can look forward to.