Cebu City Niños athletes during last year’s Batang Pinoy National Championships in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur. | Photo from CCSC
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Over 700 Cebuano athletes will compete in the weeklong 2023 Batang Pinoy (BP) and Philippine National Games (PNG) in Manila next week.
The estimated number of Cebuano athletes will comprise Team Cebu City Niños, according to Cebu City Sports Commission’s Bernard Ricablanca who is also a member of the Task Force Palaro.
READ: Elite tracksters to lead Cebu City in Batang Pinoy National Finals, PNG
BP 2023, PNG to start on Dec. 17
The twin-multi sporting meet will kick off on Sunday, December 17 and will run until December 22.
It will field a massive number of 14,000 athletes from over 200 Local Government Units (LGUs). Four thousand\ of these athletes ages 18-and-above will compete in the PNG while the rest will be in Batang Pinoy.
This is the first time the PNG and BP 2023 will be held simultaneously by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), with most of the games happening at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
READ: Philippine National Games bill gets final House approval
25 sports events
A total of 25 sports events in 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 will be competed in both the PNG and Batang Pinoy.
In the Batang Pinoy 2022 in Ilocos Sur, Cebu City sent 123 athletes that competed in nine events.
They finished 13th in the overall medal standings with nine gold medals, 12 silvers, and 26 bronzes with the City of Baguio finishing on top with 31-30-38 (gold-silver-bronze) tally.
In 2019, Cebu City finished as first-runner-up in the Batang Pinoy National Championships in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. They amassed 36-34-35 (gold-silver-bronze) medals in the weeklong event.