Sports Eye
Meteoric rise of our young athletes
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
AFTER a year of deferment ostensibly due to financial constraint, the annual five-day Batang Pinoy National Championships was resumed this year. Hosted by defending champion Baguio City, it ended last September 21 despite the threat of super Typhoon Ompong.
Yes, the young athletes of Baguio City displayed anew their dominance and successfully defended their overall title they won in 2016 held in Tagum City, Davao del Norte by reaping a whooping 83 gold, 81 silver and 197 bronze medals outclassing again championship favorites and former champions Cebu, Quezon City, to name some.
And for the first time, our Pangasinan squad finished fifth overall garnering 24 gold, 23 silver and 24 bronze medals, a meteoric rise from 24th place in 2016. As I expected, our young cyclists, under the tutelage of former professional cyclist Hector Padilla, contributed the most gold medals, collecting eight of the 24 gold medals that our province bagged. This is to show once more that this two-wheeled event is our biggest perennial contributor to our province to fame, whether in professional or amateur league, a fact that then and until now, nobody dares to gainsay. It also showed that the Pangasinan Sports Academy under the umbrella of the Pangasinan Sports Development and Management Council (PDSMC) is bearing good fruits in developing our young athletes, our future sports heroes. According to the news I received, the 5th place effort of our young Pangasinenses is worth P1M worth of incentives in the form of sports equipment and scholarships.
My kudos to the PDSMC staff headed by executive officer Modesto Operania and its deputy Marlon Domalanta for a job well-done. I have a strong feeling as I am confident that in the long run we can win the overall championship like what Baguio City already achieved. A Having bee former athlete for 32 years, I know it is just a matter of correct and intensive training, proper nutrition and, of course, self- discipline among our athletes to win it.
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The annual but defunct Mangaldan Inter-Barangay Basketball Tournament will be revived this year but with a different organization and format this time and is tentatively set to open on November 24 (or December 1). According to my reliable source, a philanthropist but want to remain anonymous, the proposed four-month long open-age basketball hostilities exclusively for bonafide Mangaldanons and with no entry fee for each participating team. He also wants the setup of the cagefest as a home-and-away games and my barangay (Buenlag) will be the main venue of the tournament. Of course, trophies, medals and cash prizes will be awarded to the winning teams, individuals and muses of the teams. Complete details of this tourney will be printed here in the days to come.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And the Lord God said, “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. EZEKIEL 18: 21
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