Officials of the Philippine Sports Commission assured the readiness of all the venues that will be used for the Batang Pinoy 2022 in Ilocos Sur.
PSC chairman Noli Eala said the venues and their facilities are undergoing daily inspections to ensure that they will remain unaffected and untouched by a series of calamities that have hit northern Luzon and the rest of the country lately.
“Handang-handa na kami. Hindi na kami mag-iisip ng alternative na venue. Kampanteng kampante na kami na maganda ang itatakbo ng Batang Pinoy 2022,” said Eala.
The venues for the games that will be held in Bantay, Ilocos from Dec. 17 until 22, are the San Ildefonso Elementary School for archery and table tennis, the President Elpidio Quirino Stadium in Bantay for athletics and swimming, the VNP stadium for badminton and obstacle course, the provincial capitol for cycling and Caoayan for weightlifting.
Northern Luzon has been hit by at least seven strong typhoons, including ‘Paeng’ on Saturday, while a magnitude 6.4 earthquake rocked the province of Abra on Tuesday last week, but authorities have managed to keep the stadium and other venues from getting any serious damage Eala is in coordination with the Province of Ilocos Sur, led by Gov. Jeremias “Jerry” Singson, who made the commitment to host the games after they formally signed a Memorandum of Agreement on the staging of the Batang Pinoy 2022 last week.
The multi-sports event was originally set December 4 to 10, but it was moved to Dec. 17 until 22, following a request from the Department of Education.
Eala said they are pushing through with Batang Pinoy 2022 in Ilocos Sur because they are confident that the multi-event sports competition will commence smoothly when the time comes.
The PSC chief explained that the calendar of the games were changed in consultation with the Department of Education, which said that no extracurricular activity involving student-athletes will done during school days.
For now, the PSC won’t be holding a lot of face-to-face competitions since this will be the first time the Batang Pinoy National Youth Games will be back in action after the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total seventeen sports disciplines will be played in total, with only nine events to be contested in a face-to-face format.
Online and virtual contests will go on in eight disciplines like arnis, dancesport, judo, karate, muay, pencak silat, taekwondo and wushu.
