LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Team Pangasinan won PHP1-million worth of sports equipment and scholarships for ranking fifth in the recent Batang Pinoy National Championships held in Baguio City on September 15-21.
Pangasinan Provincial Information Officer Orpheus Velasco, in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA), on Tuesday said the team bagged 71 medals, 24 of which are gold, 23 are silver, and 24 are bronze based on the medals tally released by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
“Team Pangasinan got the gold medals from cycling (8 medals), athletics (4), taekwondo (4), arnis (3), lawn tennis (2), karatedo (2) and boxing (1),” Velasco said.
He noted that the team underwent rigid training sponsored by the provincial government through its flagship sports program, Pangasinan Sports Academy, which was started by then Governor Amado Espino Jr. at the Narciso Ramos Sports, and Civic Center prior to the send-off of the team.
Pangasinan’s Provincial Sports Development and Management Council (PSDMC) executive officer Modesto Operania, in a recent interview, said Team Pangasinan would give a good fight during the Batang Pinoy national finals owing to the 16-day in-house training of the athletes.
Based on PSC’s medals tally, the overall champion Baguio City won 83 golds, 81 silvers and 197 bronzes, followed by Cebu with 36- 40-44.
Laguna at third place got 34-13-31 while Quezon City achieved 29-16-18.
The top five winners received incentives in the form of sports equipment and scholarships: Baguio City with PHP3 million; Cebu, PHP2.5 million; Laguna, PHP2 million; Quezon City, PHP1.5 million; and Pangasinan, PHP1 million.
According to the PSC website, Batang Pinoy is the national youth sports competition for athletes less than 15 years old, which also includes out-of-school youth. (Hilda Austria/PNA)
